


[Translation] Sweet Party

by koiwata



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Bottom Monkey D. Luffy, But really you can treat it as Gen, Fluff, Gen, Luffy is always Luffy and everyone loves him, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Nakamaship, POV First Person, Translation, rated for language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25818352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koiwata/pseuds/koiwata
Summary: [Translator]"He is now called Charlotte Luffy."Mostly KataLu and Cracker/Luffy, implied ZoLu and SanLu in Ch. 12 & 13, nakamaship starts from Ch. 9, and the Vinsmokes take the center stage in Ch. 10.[Author]Cracker POV, the events are set after the battle between Katakuri and Luffy in canon.Headcanons abound.A return gift for Jiu! You gotta ship some unorthodox Luffy ships a couple of times in your life!
Relationships: Charlotte Cracker/Monkey D. Luffy, Charlotte Katakuri/Monkey D. Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy & Big Mom Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 50
Kudos: 164





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [【ALL路】甜味派对](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20573261) by [diemoony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diemoony/pseuds/diemoony). 



> [Translator]  
> I found this gem and I just can't stand seeing it neglected due to language barrier, so here I am, trying my best to bring it to a broader audience.
> 
> All praises should go to the original author, diemoony.
> 
> English is not my first language and I have no proofreader, so if you think the flow of language is a bit weird, or you have any suggestion for improvement, please let me know!

**"Straw Hat has been captured."**

To be honest, this is quite surprising when that's the first thing I hear as I wake up in the hospital.

Smoothie is my little sister, but she has a big frame, so it's kind of weird seeing her drinking juice in that tiny hospital chair. When I turn around to look at her as I hear her voice, she barely moves, and simply blinks at me: "It's just my turn to look after you."

"However..." She drawls, squeezing the mound of fruits sitting on my nightstand into bright-colored juice as she speaks, "You look quite disgraceful all beat up like this, Cracker."

Memory starts to surge back at her words. Not recalled little by little, but exploding inside my head. Maybe it's because of the head injury, every tiny bit of memory that comes back makes my head hurts a little more.

"That little bastard...I'm gonna..." I clench my teeth as I speak, trying to sit up. Smoothie of course has no intention to help me, she just sits there with her long legs crossed, watching me struggle to sit up against the pillow until I break out in a sweat.

"Katakuri caught him."

Smoothie only continues once I finally give up and she's had enough entertainment out of my struggle.

I am not at all surprised at Straw Hat being captured by us eventually. How dare a small pirate crew think they could challenge the authority of an Emperor of the Sea as they enter the New World, just because their bounties rise a bit faster, and dubbed as "the Worst Generation" by unethical media. However, I feel it's a waste of talent with Katakuri being the one that captured him. Dammit, I should have taken care of it myself, that fucking little bastard, fought so recklessly and totally made me lose my face...

"He and his crewmates...! I'm gonna...!" I smash the bed, the numbing sensation in my arm from the impact actually makes me feel better, when I catch a glimpse of an odd smile on Smoothie's face.

Every Charlotte kid is a freak, that is our consensus. Every one of us has a different father, some know who their fathers are, and most don't even know the names of their biological fathers. But who cares? We are like a lump of clay of various colors, being squeezed together by Mama's immense power, so being twisted is a given. We take away others' survival space and have our own taken away. We get along of course, or to put it another way, it is necessary to maintain our amicable relationships at least on the surface, because leaving Mama, leaving the Charlottes, and leaving the Big Mom Pirates is costly. Everyone might've had that stupid thought when they were little, more or less:

_Leave here, even in exchange of several decades of lifespan, leave the boundaries of Totto Land, and go outside, to the vaster sea._

  
But this kind of naïve and ridiculous thought tends to be extinguished by the age of 10. Smoothie and I, who are Mama's best fighters, have especially seen plenty of fools who chase the so called "freedom" and only get totally crushed. Only power is eternal in this world, the stronger the power, the less unrealistic expectations. So even when we smile, it is usually a mocking one.

  
But the smile that Smoothie is showing is way too odd, or too much like "real happiness." Even as I come to realization, she doesn't try to hide that "soft" smile. She looks as happy as when she drank the juice she squeezed with her ability for the first time, stretching her long legs and relaxing her shoulders.

"Straw Hat's crewmates all escaped." Her tone is without anger or shame, only calmness as she states a matter of fact.

"What!" I shouted immediately out of anger, finally straighten up my body regardless of the pain.

"Straw Hat challenged Katakuri to a fight to protect his crew, and planned to meet up with them afterwards on Cacao Island. Of course he failed, although he managed to get out of the mirror, he was still chased and caught by Katakuri right after. But Germa 66 and Jinbei got in the way, those bastards, and his crewmates all escaped from Totto Land in the end."

"So are we going after the Straw Hat Pirates now?"

"Oh, that... is not necessary." Smoothie's smile widens as she slowly sips her juice. Although I don't have a strong Observation Haki like Katakuri, I can tell her next words will be about that captain that is "left behind."

"They'll come to us, or not, it doesn't matter. It's a small, unworthy pirate group after all."

"Then Straw Hat..."

"Oh, speaking of which, you can't call him Straw Hat any more... He is now called **Charlotte Luffy**."


	2. Chapter 2

Once a person has a goal in mind, nothing matters any more, not even hunger or pain. After the thought of meeting that damn "new little brother" took root, I recovered a lot faster than expected, which amazed the doctors, but anything goes in the New World anyway. Not to mention, that Straw Hat has suddenly become my little brother out of nowhere.

  
Because of the destruction caused by Straw Hat, er, no, Luffy and those lowly pirates, the capital city on Whole Cake Island is under intense reconstruction. Most of the Charlottes have returned to the islands they each govern after the tea party, but major fighters like Katakuri and Oven have stayed. Although I think this kind of heavy defense is overkill, the Straw Hats did leave a huge impact on the whole Totto Land. It's relieving that Katakuri had the final victory, and we saved our face both on newspaper and in reality, but any more problems and we'll lose our dignity forever.

  
Oh, speaking of newspaper, there is a report about "Straw Hat Nowhere to be Found after the War", condensed in a few lines at the end of a long article singing praise of "Big Mom's Glorious Victory, Seizing Germa 66's Scientific Power", and few would pay attention to it unless they specifically look for the information. Such vague wording gives people room for imagination, and blocks any attempts of getting to the bottom of the truth as much as possible.

  
But there're always some bugs that never give up, aren't there?

***

  
When I arrive at the chateau, Oven is smelting some iron to help some Chess Peacekeepers make a new door frame. He doesn't say anything when he sees me, but saying nothing is still a huge insult at times like this. My wounds are tugged as I raise the corners of my mouth, but I try to pretend it's nothing. Fuck, I absolutely despise pain, I'll never forgive that Straw Hat, um, Luffy!

  
"Looks like it's gonna take a while to fix." is all I manage to say.

  
Oven holds back his chuckle at the back of his throat. He gives me a glimpse, takes back his burning hand and smacks it on my shoulder. Although the temperature is back to that of normal human body, the force still makes me grimace.

  
"It'll get better soon, this place is gonna be the same as before, maybe even better." He states with certainty, looking somewhat silly as his lower eyelashes flutter.

  
"So, where is he?"

  
"Who?"

  
"The prisoner."

  
For real, I suspect that Oven has been smelting too much iron that he burned his brain, because he only realizes who I'm talking about after thinking for quite a long while.

  
"You mean Luffy?"

  
Ha -- He's accepted it even better than Smoothie -- because he's smiling too.

  
"He's still resting in the mochi house." As if he can tell what I'm thinking about, Oven puts on airs of a big brother/minister, "Cracker, a defeat is a defeat, you should be happy that Mama didn't demote you from Sweet General."

  
"What the... We can have another fight!" I feel my chest is going to burst with anger. I can hear my hair crackling more and more rapidly next to my ear, and if Oven talks shit again my hair might just explode!

  
"Luffy is already our little brother, Mama will not be pleased if you pick a fight with a family member."

  
"-- Bullshit!" I finally shout, "He crashed Mama's tea party, and dared to challenge Mama, if he's not --"

  
"Cracker!" The hand Oven put on my shoulder is getting warmer and warmer, "this is Mama's decision, and since he's already joined us, there is nothing we can't forgive. Also it's said that he's in good terms with the giants, it'll certainly help with Mama's biggest wish of all time, don't be so selfish!"

  
What fucking bullshit is this?

  
I sort of regret that I didn't put on my biscuit armor beforehand. My surprised face must look really stupid, because Oven is obviously trying to hold back laughing. He lifts my jaw that almost fell off, and mutters as if remembering something: "Ah, but he is indeed very rambunctious. Look at this mess, who else can drive us into a corner like this? But anyway, he is still just a less than 20-year old kid, can't be helped that he's mischievous."

  
I am absolutely shocked to the core and my mind goes blank with rage.

  
"But --" I swallow hard before I can dump every word I've been trying to say from my brain, " **he is never going to submit to us.** If you've ever fought him, you'd know, it's impossible that he --"

  
My eyes pop as Oven chokes me by my throat. I think he was going to shut me up by putting a hand over my mouth, but eventually went for the most efficient method. Now his burning hand is wrapping tightly around my neck.

  
"Listen, Cracker, he was defeated by Katakuri, and chose to submit to us after he realized the enormous difference in strength, and that is the fact. If you speak one more word about it, I'll..."

  
I don't even let him finish. As I clap my hands quickly three times, rock-hard biscuit soldiers appear between me and Oven. Oven is always the one that talks all about reasons but follows none, he goes on a rampage as soon as he's surrounded by biscuit soldiers, burning holes here and there. I tease him and make him chase crumbled biscuits like a raging bull. I don't care if the recently rebuilt streets are destroyed again. People try to evade us, their look of terror is reassuring to me, and makes me hate Luffy a bit more. It is because of him that people think I'm defeatable, and lack of reverence is dangerous to every Charlotte. Our nation is an empire built on intimidation through power, no one should ever make light of the name Charlotte, especially me, Cracker.

As Oven and I are engrossed in our heated fight, blowing off steam, sticky syrup creeps around our feet. I bet Perospero has been watching by the side for a long time, but he only shows himself when it's the most advantageous. I've heard that he lost an arm in that battle, barely survived actually. In the presence of another loser, I feel relieved but also can't help gloating.

  
And of course I'm gloating more than feeling relieved.

  
"Stop fighting!" His tone sounds like he's dealing with children throwing a tantrum, but he's the one who's licking candy like a child. He sends the still fuming Oven away with a look, and turns towards me, "this is all Katakuri's decision. If you're unhappy about it, go talk to him."

  
He even tells me straight off the bat where the mochi house that's holding Luffy is, I think he is doing that deliberately.

  
Perospero has always been coveting Katakuri's prestige, and always seeking opportunities to put him down. Judging by his expression, he's absolutely taking advantage of me, but I don't give a shit right now. I head over without ever looking back as soon as I get the direction.


	3. Chapter 3

The mochi house Katakuri built is much larger than usual, located somewhere far from Sweet City and close to the Seducing Woods.

It's said that after my defeat, my siblings gave that brat a good beating here to avenge me; and before that, he was kicked relentlessly by the crewmate he tried so desperately to get back. Upon hearing these, although I immediately let out a mocking laughter, I actually had no intention to mock him and only found it insipid. Maybe he was indeed overly foolish, and I even felt sorry for him. If it were anyone else, I'd totally believe that's the reason he surrendered to Mama, but he's different. He's the man that bested me, the man that fought hard with me for a whole night and managed to win with means as stupid as eating my biscuits. I can't accept that he gave up his position for such an inane reason.

Looking from afar, the mochi house "Charlotte Luffy" is resting in looks like a moon half sunk into the ground. I've seen Katakuri build houses with his ability, they are intricate but old-fashioned, perfunctory and boring as if copied from a textbook, but this one is different from anything he's built in the past. As I approach it, I find the house exceptionally large, surface smooth without a speck of dust; when I knock on the walls, I notice they are ridiculously thick as if trying to prevent any bit of sound or light from escaping. I suspect Luffy will die of suffocation from such thick walls.

Suddenly, I feel maybe this is actually Katakuri's true intention. For an audacious scoundrel like Luffy, there is no way he'll be allowed a quick death, the resentment can only be eased by torturing him thoroughly. Becoming our little brother or submitting to Mama are only his excuses to have the prisoner all to himself. However, regardless of whatever personal grudge Katakuri holds against Luffy, am I not supposed to be the first one to get a resolution?

So when the guards tried to stop me at the door, I didn't bother to say a word but snapped my fingers. The useless guards need to be replaced anyway, there's no way ordinary Homies are able to keep this little beast inside.

***

I don't see any flames from torture or hear any wailing from excruciating pain once I'm in the house. On the contrary, this honestly looks like an excellent sanatorium. I have no idea how Katakuri did it, from the outside the mochi house looks thick and solid, but the inside is surprisingly bright. Since the house is directly built on a lawn, a large section of the floor is even blocked off with mochi to form a small garden, exposing the pristine earth and vegetation underneath. The rest of the floor is bouncy and soft, and remarkably pleasant to step on. The massive size of the mochi house is due to its high ceiling; in addition, the inside is divided into several small rooms, and comes with a dining room, a bathroom, and a living room -- the whole set -- as far as I can see. This is outright a small palace!

Perhaps because the house is purely white, it looks very clean and tidy. The equally white sofa is covered with warm-colored blanket, with a heap of soft pillows on top. To be honest, the whole place feels way too homelike, making me somewhat disgusted and... a little terrified that I can't move my feet for quite some time.

Maybe I'm breathing too loud or what, and that Luffy is pretty good at Observation Haki anyway, I detect his presence almost at the same time he detects mine. I "see" him walking out of the bedroom right across me, and soon the door opens up. He's rubbing his eyes and yawning, his messy hair sticking into every direction. He's wearing a candy-colored hoodie that is just typical for little Charlotte boys, a pair of slender arms exposed, and his round knees showing beneath baby blue shorts. He's standing on the floor with bare feet, looking incredible small -- why don't I remember him being so young and tiny?

But no matter what he wears, they can't hide the bandages wrapped all over his body. Ha! Katakuri really beat him up good.

I see his cleaned face for the first time. A teenager's face, young and delicate like a freshly picked apple, dark, moist eyes glitter like sunlight reflected from crystal clear water. If Smoothie ever squeezes juice from him, I bet the liquid will taste refreshing with a sweet and smooth undertone.

We both remain in unspoken silence. He's right within my arm's reach, but I'm making no attempts to taunt or hit him. Yet I still feel very angry, in fact can't get any angrier ever since I woke up, because he totally looks like he has zero clue of who I am.

**"Did you forget about me?"**

In the end, I'm the one to speak first.

Luffy frowns, his eyebrows knitting tighter and tighter as he thinks hard. I'm too impatient to wait, so I clap my hands to conjure up the biscuit soldier he fought with when we first met.

His eyes widen with excitement: "Whoooooooa that's so cool! How? How did you do that?"

He hops over, trying to get a good touch of the biscuit soldier, and I swing my sword towards his head without any hesitation. He looks unsuspicious, but he's rather nimble, dodging the attack right away.

"What's your deal? Are you an enemy?" He backs off a few steps, "you wanna fight?" He's actually looking more excited that before.

Of course I wanna fight, isn't it exactly why I'm here?

So the fight starts in chaos. I don't know how long Katakuri spent on decorating this palace, but we destroyed everything within moments. If the outer walls were any less sturdy, we could have blown quite a few holes in them. I don't know if I'm imagining it or not, Luffy seems he's trying to bait me into hitting the walls from time to time. When he finds out that not even I can break them, he looks a little disappointed.

\-- He really is a sneaky little shit!

I only unleash my attacks harder on him. It is a while later when he seems to realize my biscuit soldiers are edible, and another while later when he realizes they have to be soaked in water first. I don't know what's wrong with Katakuri, leaving such a large vase in the room, and my sparkling hair is almost drenched along with my biscuit soldiers when the water pours down.

"Do you fucking bastard finally remember?" I growl. I had been thinking about countermeasures when I was recuperating, so I charge towards him directly the next moment. This damn brat, I just have to teach him a lesson with my _own_ hands!

"Mmmmmm shooooo delicious!" His rubber mouth stuffed full, dodging my attacks while covering his mouth with both hands, "so it really is edible!"

"Don't you know that from the start?!"

"No, I just learned it!" He swallows the mouthful quickly, and starts laughing shamelessly, "but it does feel like I'd known it from the beginning..."

"Don't you fucking pretend any longer, you think our previous grudge can be wiped off if you simply pretend you don't know me?"

"Do you say... previous?" He bends down and dodges my attack again, this time jumping onto a table. But since the legs are broken, he has to swing his arms around for quite a while before recovering his balance, "have we met before? Um, I'm sorry, I don't remember!"

These words are especially infuriating.

I command my biscuit soldier to attack him from all sides as I swing my own sword. My soldiers are still invincible without any rain.

Dammit.

"Did you forget? The humiliation you and that rain-summoning woman brought me, did you really forget it all?"

Luffy struggles to evade the attacks, but he throws his fists without any hesitation. Despite still looking confused, he is now seriously treating me as an enemy.

"What rain-summoning woman?"

"I can't believe you crawled back like a dog, are you really abandoning your crewmates?"

A lapse in concentration and I'm hit straight in the face with a heavy punch. The fist retracts through a hole in biscuit soldier's body, and I see his eyes open wide.

"I'll never abandon my crewmates. But..." He tilts his head, "but I really forgot. Katakuri says I injured my head during battle, so there's a lot of things I can't recall."

Freezing in the middle of a fight is absolutely dangerous, and I freeze up on spot nonetheless when I hear those words, blood trickling from my nose onto the floor. I'm lucky that Luffy is stupid as always, he doesn't take the chance to attack me at all, but steps closer instead.

"So you're an enemy? Are you here for revenge?" He clenches his fists, as if that's some serious threat, "sorry, I really can't recall, can you say a bit more?"

It hurts so much when hot breaths burn my nasal cavity as they pass. I feel a lump in my chest, or in my brain, something heavy anyway, weighing me down as I inhale and exhale. When I come around, I've grabbed Luffy's wrist already. He doesn't attack me any more, but stares into my eyes without any fear.

"What do you mean you 'can't recall?'" You don't even have any fucking bandages on your head, "do you not remember even one bit? We fought in the Seducing Woods, that orange-haired woman summoned rain to help you out..." I attempt to recall the wanted posters I read in my hospital bed, "her name is Nami, do you not remember?"

The wrist in my hand suddenly jerks, and I see a genuinely painful expression emerging on Luffy's face. He mutters the name "Nami" with all his might.

"Nami, Nami..." He gives me another look, his eyes gone hazy, "Nami? Nami!"

"Is she my crewmate? Why don't I remember?"

I'm a bit startled when he starts trembling violently all of a sudden. He's sustained heavy injuries from the look of the many layers of bandages, maybe he did lose his memory.

\-- No! He has to be faking!

I can never accept the fact that he joined Big Mom Pirates out of nowhere after forgetting everything.

"Try to think back hard." I'm totally dumbfounded when these words blurt out of my mouth.

"Mmmmph..." He clutches his head, fingers tangled in his locks, "can't remember... at all! Ow, it hurts!" He yells abruptly like he just stubbed his toe on a corner, except the pain is inside his head, "it hurts! Nami! Nami! Ow! It hurts!"

Even as he cries in pain, he's not giving up at all.

His body curls into a ball in desperation, if I weren't holding onto him, he must have collapsed on the floor already. His skin is slippery with sweat where my hand grabs him by, if I'm not gripping tightly, he'll slide off.

"Hey! You --"

I jump to the side just in time as I sense the sudden approaching danger, but I'm still grazed quite heavily. I turn around to see an outraged Katakuri standing behind me. The rage seizes me like a storm, invading every one of my pores.

But Katakuri doesn't continue his assault. He only looks at me silently, then looks at Luffy, collapsed at his feet. He steps over him, starts searching inside the cabinet behind and retrieves a box of injections. His movements are gentle when he picks up Luffy, like a large beast trying to pick a flower from the crack of a rock. Luffy is still muttering as he holds his head, but the injection Katakuri gives him sends him into a slumber immediately.

Although the gentle mannerism in which Katakuri treats Luffy is horrifying enough already, his proficiency with the entire routine makes me even more speechless. So I remain petrified as I watch him call over Pudding with a transponder snail.

Before long, a rhythmic knock rings out at the door of the mochi house. Pudding looks surprised when she sees me as she enters the room, but she says nothing. She has a black suitcase with her, and kneels down next to Luffy. She reaches out and searches inside his brain, then takes out a strip of black film. The film only starts showing the images of my battle with Luffy in the Seducing Woods after Pudding gives it a flicker.

"What are you doing?!" I finally find my voice.

My resounding voice echoes desolately in the room. Pudding doesn't even give me a second look, but Katakuri turns around.

"I didn't expect you to recover so fast, so we haven't modified the part of memory pertaining you yet." He speaks matter-of-factly.

As we talk, I watch Pudding altering that part of Luffy's memory with her devil fruit power. Whereas the orange-haired woman aided Luffy in his battle with me, her edits make it looks like Luffy started to fight me in confusion. Maybe to make it look more real, Pudding keeps taking out films that she found from I-don't-know-where from the black suitcase, editing them into Luffy's. It takes her quite some time to finish, then she holds it up to show it to Katakuri, and is going to put it back without ever asking for my opinion.

"Wait!" I block Pudding's hands.

Now I get it.

"Why?" I glare at Katakuri. Luffy is deep asleep in his arms. I now realize that they both beat up the other pretty good when I'm looking at them both, which is highly unexpected. I have never seen Katakuri in so many bandages, and there's a wound on his forehead that only starts closing. He doesn't appear to be ashamed when he senses my stare, and even has a look of self-mockery and calmness, his thumb wrapped around Luffy's shoulder caresses it absentmindedly.

"What do you mean why?" He asks, already knowing the answer.

"... Why do you do this?" I grit my teeth, "why do this when he's not submitting willingly? You are lying to Mama."

"Mama only cares about end results, how many people do you think actually submit willingly after we defeat them?"

This is indeed a meaningless question, and I'm just trying to avoid asking the real question in my heart.

"Then we should beat him to death."

"No!" I didn't expect Pudding to be the one that answers, "that'll make Sanji-san upset."

Isn't Sanji that Vinsmoke boy? Didn't he run off from the wedding? Aren't we supposed to upset him?

I look at Pudding, bewildered, then look at Katakuri again. It doesn't matter what Pudding thinks, this whole thing was his idea, his decision. I just knew it.

"Why do you do this, why alter his memory?"

This is also a meaningless question, so Katakuri isn't going to answer me whatsoever. He nods at Pudding, and she puts the edited film back in Luffy's head.

Right away, Cracker has become friends, no, family with Luffy.

I can't hold back my sneer at all.

"He'll wake up in a few minutes, we can take it outside if you want to fight."

"Why?" My repeated question sounds so feeble and helpless, but it's too difficult for me to ask what I really what to ask at the moment.

"I don't want to see Mama take his soul and turn it into some random Homies."

The biscuits that start to gather around me turn back in to crumbs and rain down on the floor.

That is indeed a good answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Translator]  
> Well it turns out translating from Chinese to English is much harder than I expected compared to English-Chinese. This chapter kicked my ass haha. I was stuck at the part describing Luffy's physical appearance, since a direct translation would read reaaaaally weird, so I took some liberty and got a bit creative. But other than that, I try to stay true to the original text as much as possible. Hope you enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

Katakuri and I actually didn't end up fighting when we came out of the mochi house, as if all my strength disappeared with every step I took. Instead, the pain I've been neglecting starts to torture me again incessantly. I give him a punch, and he returns a pat on my back, much more gently than Oven. Ha, no wonder he's our most respected and beloved big brother, I can't help but think.

We didn't say another word to each other before he goes back into the mochi house, while Pudding starts to slowly walk back alongside me.

Both of our paces are slow on the way back, and no one speaks until I clear my throat when the outline of Sweet City's rooftops are in sight. I hate to be the one that initiates conversation every time, but it seems I'm the only one with tons of questions after I woke up.

Well, Luffy must have tons of questions too, but unfortunately he's **"forgotten"** everything.

"Isn't Memo-Memo Fruit convenient." I say.

"Big brothers only gave it to me because you don't find it useful in battle." Pudding looks ahead and says without reservation. Most of the Charlottes know that she's never as innocent as she looks, this three-eyed devil woman.

"So, did he forget everthing?"

"... It's more like **'can't recall.'** And not **everything**."

Grass rustles under our feet, the sweet scent of the collapsed wedding cake still heavy in the air, making me a little nauseated.

"Gonna be like this forever?"

Pudding pauses, and I can see her fingers gripping the black suitcase tighter from my peripheral vision even when I'm looking up at the sky. The giant biscuit soldier I created is following right behind us, accidentally cutting off a few strands of her hair with its bright, sharp blade.

"I sealed off his past memories, as long as he doesn't push himself to recall them, he won't."

I remember that even the memory of his battle with me was blacked out at first. Seems most if not all of his memories are sealed off .

"What if he pushes himself to recall?"

Pudding sighs: "It'll be like ramming your head against a wall."

"Sounds like something that fool would do." I laugh out loud, but I can't get rid of the image of the "fool" clutching his head in pain.

"If you're afraid of him remembering again, why not just destroy his past memories."

I didn't expect myself to say it outright, but this seems pretty obvious. Pudding suddenly halts in her track, and turns around to stare at me. I scratch my chin as I lazily look up at the sky, but Pudding isn't backing down any time soon, so I have to look at her again.

"Big Bro Cracker, memories are a part of your soul." Pudding says with a straight face, "you are the you today because your past experiences have shaped up your personality, your habits, how you think, and how you fight. Your memories are proofs of these experiences, they still exist inside you even if you don't remember them clearly. Forcefully destroy the majority of someone's memories, and he'll be no more than an empty shell." Pudding inhales slightly, "this is not the Luffy that Mama needs... Nor what Big Bro Katakuri needs."

Maybe the air is just too sweet, I feel even more nauseated.

"Can you guarantee that he'll never remember with your seal?"

Pudding presses her lips into a line and doesn't answer my question. She starts walking at a steady pace again, and I have to catch up to her after standing there for a few seconds. Her black suitcase stands out all the more in the colorful cityscape. I remember Mont-d'Or telling me that Katakuri and Pudding haven't been around much lately. Judging by what I saw earlier, I guess Katakuri has been taking Pudding to catch people who've had close contact with Luffy so they can steal their memories as materials for altering Luffy's.

That is a lot of effort... Is it necessary?

Is it worth keeping him around with this much work?

I never confirm it, and I have a lot more questions that I end up not asking.

Once we reach Sweet City, Pudding and I gradually go our separate ways without saying a proper goodbye.

I look back after walking out a long way, still feel like I can see the mochi house that holds Luffy. Of course I can't actually, so I think maybe it's because I'm getting better at Observation Haki.

All in all, that's a good thing... Right?

The pain is getting more intense all over my body, and I wait no longer to hide in my strong and hard biscuit armor. I start my stride, strong and hard, and I feel much better.

I tell myself not to think any more.


	5. Chapter 5

Fuck.

Humans are probably the kind of animals that the more they tell themselves not to think, the more they can't help but think about it.

In fact I'm surprised that I've actually waited for more than a whole week before returning to the mochi house. I've been thinking about the whole deal with Luffy and Katakuri ever since I got home, or maybe even since I was on my way home. It's just so bizarre, and not something you accept without questioning no matter how you look at it.

When I reach the door of the mochi house, a new band of stronger Homies block my way. Turns out Katakuri has given them the order not to let anyone other than him approach the house when Luffy is recuperating. That's some bullshit order, if Luffy really is our little brother now, does a big brother need to inform another big brother when he visits his little brother? Although it won't take long to take out these Homies, they'll notify Katakuri as soon as I show any signs of fighting back. I stand at the door with hands in my pockets for a while, and eventually give up.

It's not that I can't beat them, it's just I don't want to look like I have to get in!

I strut past the Homies flaunting their borrowed power, and walk into the Seducing Woods. I'm not hesitating, but if anyone asks, I've already come up with a bunch of well-founded justifications. Anyway, I make a "Katakuri" suit with my biscuits and get inside.

It only looks like him, but should be enough to fool those Homies, not sure if it can fool Luffy though.

When I waltz through the door, I start to worry a little, what if he screams or attacks me...

Oh, we're no longer enemies.

***

In fact, all my worries are for nothing.

Or in other words, things always develop beyond people's expectations, and not even Katakuri can be one-hundred percent sure of his predictions with his future sight.

***

Luffy is not suspecting me in any way, because when I get inside, he is lying on the floor facedown, blood everywhere.

"Hey, you!" I run over hastily and pick him up, "what happened to you?"

His face is all bloody, lying limp in my arms with his eyes closed.

Did he really bang his head until he injured himself because he tried to remember? This idiot!

"Wake up, wake up..." I slap his face but he's still not reacting, so I immediately carry him towards the door.

"-- Pffft."

"..." Right when I'm about to open the door, I hear some idiot snickers as he can no longer hold back.

"You..." What the fuck!

I toss him on the floor with full force, his eyes are still closed, insisting on faking a corpse.

"You're totally fine!" I'm pissed.

"No, I have the staying-in-the-house-any-longer-and-I-will-die disease. Let me out now." To my surprise, the corpse actually answers my question in earnesty.

I look around again as I calm down, the smears that I thought were blood are just ketchup.

I grab Luffy's feet and drag him back to the middle of the house, then fling him hard onto the sofa. I plant my arms by the sides of his head, and stare at him persistently. After a moment, Luffy opens one eye to peek at me, and when he finds out I'm looking straight at him, he finally opens both eyes.

"Are you mad?" He winks, sits up abruptly. If not for my fast reaction, we would have bumped into each other.

I knock over the cabinet behind me as I back up, toppling more things onto the floor, and now I've caused as much damage as Luffy.

"Now go wash your face!" I'm still disoriented, and all I can think of is to yell at him in Katakuri's voice. He's looking at me, lying on his belly on the sofa, chin on the back of his overlapped hands. He scratches his face and stuff the finger into his mouth after hearing my words.

"It's just ketchup!"

Of course I know it's ketchup! Ew, you're so gross!

Words apparently can't stop Luffy from licking the ketchup, so I dash into the bathroom, grab a towel, and throw it into his face.

"What're you doing?" He continues sucking his fingers without a care with the towel on his head.

To be honest, I've totally given up at this point.

I walk over, grab the towel and start wiping his face carefully. When it's all cleaned, I move to wipe his two dirty paws. And since I'm on it already, and his feet are also stained with ketchup on the floor, might as well clean them up too.

Luffy laughs without a shame in the giant towel, he seems to think I'm playing a game with him as he wriggles around.

What's wrong with you, Katakuri, giving him a towel this big?

I try to hold him down under the towel, and I can feel his soft and warm body sliding beneath my palms.

"Hey it tickles! I can just eat it all."

Eat shit!

I've never seen Luffy from this angle, and he certainly wasn't docile and lovable like this when we first met. Although I've never taken care of boring and troublesome creatures like kittens or puppies myself, I've at least seen my little sisters take care of various little animals before, and it feels Luffy is like one of those right now. Why did a tiny pirate like him have the courage to challenge our Mama after all? When I finally realize I'm ruffling Luffy's hair, I withdraw my hand immediately. Fuck, it has to be because Katakuri is too tall, he's not really that tiny.

To ease the embarrassment, I... begin to wipe the ketchup stains on the furniture, then put away the stuff that I knocked onto the floor. Luffy is still sitting on the sofa during the whole process, arms propping himself up, watching me as he swings his bare feet back and forth. When I'm in front of him, he'll prop his head on his knees, and when I walk around behind he'll climb onto the back of the sofa.

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

"What can I possibly do here?" His voice is filled with complaint towards me, no, towards Katakuri, "you say that I can go out once I'm recovered, and I am fully recovered already, look!"

He leaps over to me as he says, pulling his stupid rubber face into all sorts of ridiculous shapes. I'm actually laughing inside the biscuit suit by now, but Katakuri is keeping his straight face. Lucky that he wears his scarf all year round, otherwise Luffy will certainly be suspicious.

"You don't believe me? Touch me and see for yourself!" He says adamantly, and grabs my hands to put on his face. I can feel how soft he actually is even through the biscuit suit, is this what Gum-Gum Fruit feels like? He doesn't look all that powerful like when he was fighting me, is he this delicate when he's not coated in Armament Haki? I start off with only one hand, then I can't help but start pinching and squishing his face with both. And Luffy remains really docile, no matter how I squish his face, he always gazes at me with expectant, glittering eyes.

Ahem.

To ease the embarrassment and abashment, I... begin to mop the floor.

"When exactly can I go out!" He stands on the mop with both hands on his hips. To be fair, I should be beating his ass right now, but then I remember that Katakuri never lashes out to any of our siblings. He doesn't talk much, but he's quite protective. I put my hand on Luffy's shoulder, and lift him up entirely. Yes, now I find out he's also very light, as light as cotton candy. I put him on the sofa and force him to sit down.

"Are you really mad?" He looks up at me.

"No." I shake my head.

"Hey, don't be mad." He opens up his arms without prompt. Thanks to his devil fruit power, even if Katakuri is much larger than him, he can wrap around him several times and hold him close. I can see Luffy's raven-colored fluffy head rubbing against Katakuri's collarbone.

"Don't be mad. It's not the first time, why are you so mad today?"

I've never expected this is how he gets along with Katakuri, so what would Katakuri do now?

"I'm not mad." The Katakuri in my memory is always distant and serious. I'm wrapped tightly by Luffy, and all I can do is rotate my hands. Unfortunately, I can only pat on his butt if I don't want to break his arms.

It feels nice.

I absolutely don't intend to do that!

Luffy flashes a blindingly bright toothy grin at me.

"Then why haven't you given me donuts today?"

***

... Is that the reason?!


	6. Chapter 6

There's only "never" and "many times" with everything in the world.

Ever since I went to see Luffy impersonated as Katakuri that one time, I've got better at it. I learn of Katakuri's schedule through different people, and go visit Luffy when he's not around. This probably sounds very creepy, but luckily no one else knows.

Almost every time we meet, Luffy will demand that I take him outside. I don't know how many times Katakuri has turned him down, but I'm almost at my limit. It's safe to say that this brat is a hundred times, no, a million times harder to deal with as a family member than as an enemy!

Every time I visit, there's some new addition to the mochi house. Sometimes it's a video transponder snail that shows various TV programs; sometimes it's a flower Homies that can sing lovely songs and tell interesting tales; at one point I see a gigantic teddy bear that takes up a full corner of the room, head tilting to the side because the ceiling is not high enough to accommodate it; and of course countless of delicious foods. Every time I visit, I'll bring donuts with different flavors, and I think that's also what Luffy and Katakuri do together the most.

Luffy will lie down next to me without second thoughts, and slide into my arms when I space out. I'll sit on the floor and share giant donuts with him. I've never tried eating while inside a biscuit suit, and that's some incredible skill I've developed, maybe my fruit power will awaken if I keep this up. He'll ask me to talk more about Totto Land, because he says he can't remember however he tries. To prevent him from trying to "remember" again, I do my best to describe the Totto Land in my memory to him. Thanks to him, I've also recalled a lot of funny stories with my siblings when we were little. Turns out we weren't always the freaks we are when we were little, but more like "humans": I used to snag Brûlée's candies, and she ended up sneaking spiky balls into my comforter through a mirror; when Perospero was little, he had a rotten tooth because he ate too much candies, and he cried so hard that the entire street laughed at him; the first time Oven used his fruit power, he burned a hole on the floor right beneath him, and he fell through it, crying out loud as he burned himself.

Luffy and I laugh at these stories while rolling on the floor. I honestly haven't laughed so happily in a long time, and laughing has improved my mood. Luffy told me that big brothers and sisters all came to see him when he first woke up; the tall big sister that gave him tasty juice is Smoothie, the one with long tongue that gave him a lollipop is Perospero, the one with a fiery head is Oven, the one with three heads turns out to be Daifuku. His description of us is always quite vivid, filled with weird adjectives, but every time he says our names, he always has to pause and think like a jammed transponder snail, then pronounces them correctly but stiffly. This is all thanks to Memo-Memo Fruit, and my smile will freeze in the biscuit suit every time it happens.

I'll wipe away the crumbs at the corner of Luffy's mouth, then pinch his stupid cheeks. Maybe one day, I'll accidentally wipe off this smile that doesn't really belong to me.

***

When I get here today, there's no one inside. I can't explain how I feel at that moment. It's surprising that I don't start screaming, I just silently open the rooms one by one to check inside, the giant basket filled with donuts tightly clutched in my hands the entire time.

He's nowhere to be found.

**He escaped.**

I immediately think.

**He remembered.**

I stand paralyzed in the middle of the house, feeling I'm turning stiffer than my biscuits. I only become aware of my heavy breathing inside the biscuit suit after quite a while. I don't actually like staying in the biscuit suit all the time, it's dark and stifling. My battles always end quickly, and I've never stayed in my armor for so long except for these days when I impersonate Katakuri.

I sit down on the floor with legs crossed, put the basket between my legs, and take out a donut. It's Luffy's favorite with barbecue sauce on top. I take a bite, it tastes awful. I'm going to throw it on the floor, step on it, then smash everything here into pieces!

Right as I raise my arm, I hear the familiar voice ring out above my head: "Hey, why did you start without me!"

I lift my head to find that Katakuri has made a skylight in the middle of the mochi house's dome, and Luffy is hanging right there. He calls out to me, then drops down, and bites into the donut I'm holding without another word. I forget to let go of it for a moment, and he devours it with full attention, his cheeks puff up like a hamster. I flick his forehead without any reservation, and to my surprise, he dodges it right off.

Future sight, it's Katakuri's specialty.

"I saw it!" He blinks at me proudly, "you said that you'd let me out if I master it."

So many siblings, and none has such strong Observation Haki as Katakuri to be able to see the future, not even after all these years. Katakuri made the right call. As an enemy, he's a huge threat, but as a family member, there's no one more reliable.

I'm very used to encircling him in my arms by now. He's still hastily stuffing his face with donuts. I hold him close, ear pressed onto his chest as his strong and vigorous heartbeat knocks on my eardrum.

"Isn't there a skylight? Why don't you go out from there, there's no glass anyway."

"That is for viewing the scenery!" He says in a serious tone, "and we've agreed that I won't go out alone."

He smiles at me, and all I can do is ruffle his hair again.

In this moment, I kind of regret hiding in the armor. Every time he smiles at me or hugs me, every word he says to me, it's directed at Katakuri, a biscuit suit that can't make any real expressions.

What for?

He's not Katakuri's little brother only.

But then he rolls his eyes and smirks at me mischievously:

"I only promised Katakuri not to go out alone, but you can take me out with you, **Cracker!** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Translator]  
> Next chapter is looooong. It will take a while.


	7. Chapter 7

According to Luffy, Katakuri never wears his scarf around him, and likes lying on the soft and squishy floor while eating donuts even more so than him. I think he made up those two reasons on spot; after all, he doesn't know what kind of man Katakuri really is to spout such nonsense. Any further questioning, and he just says it's a hunch.

Well, thinking back on it, we've spent quite some days together, and it can't be helped that there're a few giveaways. It's absolutely not because I'm also an idiot.

Luffy busies himself with the armor I took off, the biscuit that hasn't been moistened yet almost chips his teeth.

"Aren't you going to eat it?" He asks as he massages his jaw.

"It's too weird to eat your own weapon!" I still help soften "Katakuri's head" and toss it to him. Watching him devouring it without any qualms makes my own head start to hurt -- he is honestly a creature beyond weird.

Once you think about his fighting style though, he seems to be playing with his weird body rather than developing techniques around it, so anything weird that happens to him only feels natural.

Anyway, when Luffy and I walk out of the mochi house hand in hand, the Homies outside are almost scared shitless. I don't care if they're going to report to Katakuri, Luffy is the one to blame!

I conjure up a biscuit soldier in a showy way.

"Hmm, this biscuit soldier looks so ugly no matter how you look at it!" Despite saying so, he prods and pokes it with great interests.

"Then what kind of biscuit soldier do you want?" I pretend to be annoyed, but I've already decided to fulfill whatever request he puts forward, considering it's his very first one as my "little brother."

And for sure, he immediately starts flailing about as he speaks, eyes glowing:

"I want a robot, a giant, giant robot! This tall! With a punch perm! And laser eyes! Large, large fists! This large! A super cool and awesome robot!"

Where does that strange idea come from? Some weird TV program Katakuri showed him?

Anyway, I still make a biscuit robot according to his request, and Luffy demands to put a logo on the lower abdomen of the robot. I ask him what kind of logo, he starts to think hard again, this time much longer than expected. When I look at him closely, I finally realize his forehead is already covered in sweat and his eyes closed. He must be in intense pain and his lips are pale, yet he's not letting go of that pain.

"Hey, Luffy, stop thinking."

I know he's ramming against that "wall" in his head again.

"Logo... a straw hat logo... I've seen it before, and someone's there, many people, everyone..."

I know Katakuri and Pudding have been working on the memory alterations nonstop, maybe this is why he doesn't allow Luffy to go outside without permission. Fuck. I'm about to run back into the mochi house to get the sedative when Luffy snatches me with incredible force, his sweaty palm burning hotter than the rain that softened my biscuit.

"C-Cracker... Big Brother... A-... A-... No, don't, don't leave!"

"I'm not leaving. I'm still here. Get ahold of yourself!" I shake him back and forth, not sure what to do, and all it accomplishes is to make his sweat splatter onto the back of my hands, "stop thinking, do you hear me? Hey, hey, Luffy, look at me!" I hold his head tight in my hands, as if that'll prevent something from falling apart, "you were heavily injured, so stop thinking about the things you can't remember, you idiot! Hey, hey! Are you listening to me!" His tears come as suddenly, rolling down from his eyes in an instant. The beads of liquid slide off his cheeks like neverending streams, trample over my skin without mercy, and tumble down string by string.

He keeps crying without realizing doing so, his glare still concentrated at me, his face looking awful.

"Hey hey, hey, don't cry! Do you hear me!" I'm in full panic, and all I can do is yell at him louder, "I hate crybabies!"

This seems to work like a magic spell. He sniffles with a sharp inhale, the way he holds back tears is both comical and heartbreaking: "I'm not a crybaby!" He yells back at me with equally loud voice, "It's just a little bit pain in my head, it's nothing! It doesn't hurt at all!"

"Then stop looking so miserable!" I push his face away, irritated, while covering my own. Fucking Katakuri's not doing a good job altering his memories at all, it's going to go wrong sooner or later, we should have --

"Don't let me hear you sniffle either!" His obedience only makes me flinch more. I have absolutely no idea how to deal with a sobbing mess of a kid, although I have plenty experience with such enemies.

I wave my fingers in slight irritation and a lion head logo appears on the abdomen of the robot. It's what Luffy's ship looks like according to our data, this should more or less appease him.

Indeed, he's rather satisfied with the little lion logo. Luffy is so easy to distract.

To lift his spirits, I stuff a random little Homies into the robot, infusing the soul inside with the biscuit.

"You are Luffy's Homies from now on!" I instruct the biscuit robot, "be sure to obey him, got it?"

"I'm going to call him... um, General! OK, it's decided!" He gets even bubblier, not sure if he's insensitive or simply forgetful.

Maybe both!

"Stepladder!" Luffy gestures as he gives out an order, and "General" puts its hands together following Luffy's example. Luffy and I step onto the overlapped hands, and the General stands up with a rumble.

Still feeling a little shaken, I ride on the biscuit robot, "General", along with Luffy, who's now totally emmersed in his "adventure", and head towards Sweet City.

***

We've caught everyone's attention before we even reach the city.

Oven is the first one to come out and welcome us. He fervently greets Luffy with a whole bunch of ambiguous and pretentious words, and Luffy, as usual, reacts with his signature goofy but cute smile towards any words he doesn't understand, which may have misled Oven to take it as encouragement, so he grows all the more pompous, and even his lower eyelashes flutter faster.

Next, people who fought Luffy before, like Smoothie, Mont-d'Or, Galette, Amande, Baron Tamago, and Randolph all gather around the General one by one. I'm reluctant to let Luff off the robot the entire time, who know whether there's going to be another idiot saying something that triggers him. But chasing the crowd is a common human vice, and when I finally realize it, the General is no longer able to take another small step.

I scan the crowd from above, most people look curious but hesitant to speak. Luffy, on the contrary, is the most excited among all. He lies facedown on the General's palm, waving to the Sweet City residents looking up at him.

"You look fully recovered." Smoothie has turned herself bigger; she leans in and casually pinches Luffy by his scruff. Luffy shrugs, the instinctual reaction makes Smoothie curl up her lips.

"Isn't he interesting?" Is what she says to me.

"What do you mean interesting?" I turn my head away, he's not a pet, "can't you help disperse the crowd? They're blocking the way."

"Yeah-- " Smoothie drawls halfheartedly, and turns back to look at Luffy, "are you out playing with Cracker?"

"Yup! Cracker brought me out!" Luffy answers promptly, his head held high, and before I can deny anything, he's already resumed his inspection of this "brand new" world with great interest, "how do you become so big all of a sudden?"

"This is my ability, don't you remember, Luffy?" Smoothie's smile falters, "who am I?"

"Um... Oh, you're Smoothie."

"Then Luffy, who am I?" Another person cuts in.

"... Mont-d'O-r, you have a strange book!"

"What about me?"

"Do you know me?"

"Hey, what about..."

"And me, Luffy..."

Every one of them is so annoying. I notice that his forehead is once again sweaty, so I quickly drag him up. He must be thinking really hard, they are his "family" in his cognition after all.

"Then Straw Hat, who am I?"

Before I can slap him with my biscuit, Counter's mouth is already plastered with sticky syrup.

Perospero looks like an arrogant lion as he approaches us on his candy staircase. He lifts one finger from the hand that was blown off but now glistens with candy glaze, and pokes Luffy's cheek.

"Then who am I?"

"You are - Peroro, no, Peros, Sro, um no, it's Perospero... Urgh, your name is so hard to pronounce, feels like I've never got it right."

"Can't be harder to pronounce than Katakuri." Perospero squeezes Luffy's cheek, but Luffy shrugs him off without hesitation. He can't hide anything on his face, and right now it clearly says "you are very different from Katakuri." It amuses me how this kind of child's candor easily embarrasses the adults. Predictably, Perospero shoots me a bitter glare.

"Who's Straw Hat?"

"Just ignore that idiot Counter, he misremembers things all the time, that's why there's always someone with him." I carefully inspect Luffy, if he's having another episode again, I may have to resort to knocking him out.

"But 'Straw Hat' sounds so familiar."

"Familiar?" Perospero gives his candy a lick, then bends down to lean closer to Luffy. I move forward, only to be blocked by his good hand. He darts a glance my way. No matter what expression he wears, it's always somewhat twisted, perhas due to his long tongue.

 **"That's because Straw Hat is our enemy."** He draws out, "the Straw Hats are a group of ignorant, lowly pirates; previously, they had the audacity to challenge Mama, stole Mama's treasure, and attempted to raise their bounties by defying Mama, only to run away crestfallen after we taught them a lesson, and now they're probably hiding in some rat hole somewhere on the Grand Line, isn't that right?" Perospero looks downward, the once clamorous crowd has long been silent, only to start echoing him again upon hearing his words:

"Yeah, he's such a wimp!"

"His crewmate ditched him, and he still came to beg him to go back, how shameless. How's that possible, who'd give up their cushy royal life to follow him?"

"He was crushed with one blow, and he looked so pathetic when he was struggling in the mud like a little bug."

"Even claimed he'd become the Pirate King, that can't be more laughable."

"They all ran off deflated with tails between their legs in the end, didn't even dare to pick up what they left behind, hahahaha..."

If it were before, I'd have since joined everyone to mock that lame "Straw Hat," but now the clamoring only sounds irksome to me. I see the unknowing populace laughing along joyously, with the same eyes like crescent moons and the same mouths like black holes. I look down at Luffy standing in front of me, and I can only see the little hair whorl at the top of his head. He used to carry a straw hat with him all the time, where did it go? I haven't seen it ever since I woke up.

"You are so annoying, stop blocking the way! Get out of here!" I burst out, my voice isn't loud but everyone shuts up again. This is rather comical, I feel they are like jack-in-a-boxes, Perospero and I take turns to open and close the lids, and they jump and sway as we order them to. They back off slightly at my growl, but still not leaving. Those who have actually fought the Straw Hats are looking at me with similar expression in their eyes, they haven't laughed either. No matter what others say, no matter what Perospero says, we all have an honest assessment of the fights we partake in.

"But..." Luffy turns to look at me, "even so, he still challenged Big Mom, isn't that pretty cool?"

Turns out the sound of breathing as people try to hide their emotions only amplifies the silence.

I breathe with the same unease involuntarily, chest slightly rising and falling, and finally respond to him after a long pause: "Yeah."

"Are my injuries from my fight with him too?" Seeing me falling quiet again, he immediately curves up the corners of his mouth and gives me a little bump, "ah, what a shame! But it's OK, if he comes back, I'll beat him!"

He speaks with certainty, the look on his face is one with fearless naivete as well as convincing resolution.

"It's not going to be your turn by then!"

"No, he's my enemy, and he's the reason that I can't remember anything, right? He's a bad person after all!"

Right now, I miss my "dumb smily face" as Brûlée used to call it, because I'm unable to force out even the tiniest smile at the moment. Everyone is looking at us, and I only want to crawl back into my biscuit armor. On the other hand, Perospero is casually letting out his familiar laughter.

"Then we'll look forward to it!" He pats Luffy on his shoulder, "he's really strong though."

"But he lost to Katakuri, right?"

To my surprise, Perospero avoids the only question that can be answered "truthfully" without any concerns. He only pinches Luffy's nose again: "And you should call her 'Mama,' you're a Charlotte kid, if you call her Big Mom right in her face, you'll no doubt get in trouble."

Luffy makes a face at him. I'm getting tired of this, so I slap away the candy hand, and insert myself between him and Luffy.

"Are you done talking? I'm taking Luffy to look around."

Perospero squints his eyes, the noise of him slurping his candy is particularly grating. He smiles again, takes out another lollipop, and hands it over to Luffy, bypassing me. Luffy's loud swallow makes me roll my eyes, but he still glances at me. Not sure why, it seems he's become more attached to me after he cried. Of course it's not like I'm feeling happy about it; however, since he's with me, it's my duty to take good care of him.

I take the lollipop and hand it to Luffy myself.

"Looks like you're having a good time taking care of our new little brother!"

Big Brother Perospero is not obnoxious in general, but you can tell he's always planning something just by looking at him. He likes blackmailing people, and is committed to his creepy fighting style of covering his opponents in candy and slowly torturing them to death. Frankly, this is the longest I've ever conversed with him.

"You're seriously annoying."

"Are you already good friends?"

The best way to handle Perospero is to not answer him, but Luffy apparently answers any and all questions. He immediately stretches his rubber arm and wraps it around mine, and cracks a big, proud smile: "Yup! Cracker and I are best friends!"

"Huh! What a SURPRIIIIIISE! It makes lil' old me a little jealous." Perosperos says dramatically.

Thanks to his acting, the surrounding crowd instantly starts teasing us with an "Ehhhhh" sound.

What the fuck, do my words not work any more? How are you guys still here? If it were before, there would be a legion of biscuit soldiers stomping over you by now! It's just right now I can't get away from Luffy's rubber arm which is holding to me a little too tight, and I can only flail about with one hand:

"What are you fucking laughing about? What's that face of yours, Randolph?"

"Ah..." Randolph the rabbit backs off right away and bows down in reverence, and points to his steed, the crane next to him: "He's the one that says 'since the little brother is so cute, even the frightening big brother looks cuter now.'"

"Bullshit!" The crane flaps its wings.

Anyhow, the number of people gathering around is only growing.

Fuck, I don't care any more, time to leave!

I give the biscuit General a kick yet it doesn't budge. Meanwhile, it seems Luffy has also had enough, so he affectionately pats the General's head and shouts: "Let's go, General!"

A vibration starts from under my feet. Great, you bastard Homies only listen to him now, huh.

The crowd is forced to slowly disperse. Maybe I should pretend I'm careless and kick Perospero off the robot when we're turning the corner.

Actually, before I can act on anything, the General stops again, not because of Luffy's order but another imposing pressure forcing it to halt its steps. I impulsively touch my nose, looking at Katakuri that's appearing in front of me a little sheepishly.

"So you're out, Luffy!" Brûlée calls out first, who's walking next to Katakuri .

"Yo, it's - Brûlée!"

"Not Brûlée, it's -- Oh, yes it's Brûlée. No wait! Why are you out?"

""He took me out!""

Luffy and I point at each other simultaneously, but it's obvious that I'm the only one receiving Katakuri's disgruntled stare.

As Katakuri approaches, everyone steps aside to let him through, or rather, they all take a huge step back. I can hear Big Brother Perospero licking his candy even louder next to me; he stuffs his face with sweets whenever he gets nervous. I may have seen Katakuri without his scarf when he was younger, but that was too long ago, and the Katakuri in my memory has always been serious and taciturn. Even if I can only see his eyes, I can still feel that unspoken pressure emitting from him. He walks towards us until he's only a few meters away, and sighs before he actually starts speaking.

"Come over."

His tone is surprisingly more doting than merely forgiving, and Brûlée makes a disgusted face by the side. I believe mine is about the same. It's like a biscuit that's been soaked in sweet juice for too long and will collapse and crumble with a light squish.

I hear Luffy giggle with mischief and elation. After answering with a "'Kay", he flies straight down towards Katakuri's open arms. Our forever mature and demure big brother not only catches him firmly, but also lifts this little monkey by his soles to let him take a steady seat on his shoulders.

So is it because of him that all his spiky adornments are gone?

I swallow thickly among the nervous hissing from the surrounding crowd.

"That's really dangerous." So he says, yet the look in Katakuri's eyes is unmistakably gleeful.

"It's alright 'cuz nothing happened." Such a matter-of-factly tone, I don't think he'll be scared even if Katakuri reprimands him for real.

"We happen to be talking about defeating **Straw Hat**." Perospero is standing once again in front of Luffy and Katakuri on his candy stairs; after all, he's a big attention seeker.

"Yeah, it's decided, I'll beat him next time."

Luffy nods at Katakuri, and cracks his fists as he squeezes them tight. Before any of us is able to react, Katakuri suddenly throws a punch at Luffy, and his rubber head would definitely be smashed if he didn't dodge in time.

"Hey, watch out!"

However, Luffy is already leaning backwards when I shout out. Well, the fact is, Luffy already evaded the punch by bending backwards almost at the same time Katakuri threw it. He nimbly bounces back with his rubber power and steadies himself on Katakuri's shoulders once again.

"That's really dangerous!" He parrots Katakuri, "lucky that I saw it coming."

"Liar!"

"What's with this brat..."

"That's sheer luck..."

Katakuri's eyes are smiling sincerely this time, there is no mistake. A strong little brother who trusts you with all his heart, that'll make any big brother happy. Katakuri's hand ruffles Luffy's hair aggressively, eventually annoying Luffy, and he reaches out to push him aside, "in any case, I'll beat him next time."

He promises again.

Katakuri remains quiet for a while, and finally grumbles back: "One day you will."

"Did you see the future?"

"I can't see that far into the future." Katakuri says in honesty, "but you've defeated many opponents already."

"Am I that strong? Why don't I remember any of it? Didn't you say that once I'm recovered, I'll regain my memory little by little?"

Katakuri remains quiet longer this time, and everyone is drowned in the silence, all holding their breathe.

"One day you will."

In the end, that's all he says.

***

Afterwards, Perospero has a few more words with Katakuri, asking him about when he'll take Luffy to see Mama. Turns out Katakuri has just returned from a meeting with Mama; not sure what agreement he's reached with her, but Mama still doesn't want to see Luffy yet, and he'll return with Katakuri to Wheat Island where he governs. Further into the conversation, it sounds like their departure is imminent.

"What's with him..." I mutter, "acting like nothing happened..."

"I haven't had my fun here with Cracker yet!" Luffy also protests aloud.

Katakuri shoots me another look, and I make sure to return the glare this time. To my surprise, he smiles back at me.

What the fuck, is he laughing at my blush?!

"Ah, thanks for taking care of Luffy."

What's with this fucking tone, it's getting more obnoxious!

I cross my arms, instantly realizing that Katakuri has long since known my impersonating him and has no plan to berate me, and I feel my face burning hotter: "Luffy is also my little brother after all."

"Yeah, he's my little brother too!" Even Smoothie steps up to support me.

"Yeah that's right..."

"We're already friends."

In the end, the crowd that was about to disperse all comes back together again. I'm probably not the only one that realizes Katakuri is unprecedentedly easy to talk to, or even bordering on mellow today.

And in the chaos that ensues, the group of us tour around the Sweet City together, with Katakuri leading the way with Luffy and me riding on the biscuit General. Because of the ongoing reconstruction, there isn't much to see, and eventually it turned into a lively banquet with everyone sitting under the purple and gold dusk sky, campfire burning high.

The banquet is of course Luffy's idea. Different from Mama's classy tea party, Luffy's so-called banquet is just everyone sitting together, singing, dancing, and eating. No exquisite tableware, nor well-trained waiters or waitresses, not to mention any noble social elites. In one word, it's simply everyone casually sitting together and piling food we each find into a small mountain.

And certainly there're still some people who'd make fun of Luffy, jeering at him when Katakuri isn't paying attention. Maybe Katakuri hears them too, but he never steps up to defend Luffy like I do. Gradually I come to realization that perhaps thanks to his simplicity, Luffy is naturally immune to maliciousness. He can't understand any sarcasm that's too roundabout, so he won't get mad; but if you overstep, he won't hesitate to use force, and he won't have any reservation even if he knows you're "family." When all said and done, he's only liked by everyone even more.

Maybe this is why Katakuri tries to keep him despite everything. It's not only an appreciation for mighty strength, but something mightier than strength, something that we Charlottes have never possessed before.

When the first star lights up in the sky, Luffy is already well accepted like he was our "little brother by blood" all along. Those who once traded blows with him on this lawn are now playing some stupid game of sticking chopsticks in their noses with the brat, Smoothie has kindly squeezed the vegetables Luffy woudn't eat into juice, and Oven finally stokes the campfire to the point of just shy of disturbing Mama upon everyone's request. Perospero is probably the most conflicted one; to be honest, I can't tell if he's envying Katakuri for being praised by everyone for keeping Luffy or for Luffy being more attached to Katakuri than him. However, he doesn't know any other ways to gain Luffy's favor than giving him lollipops, and now has a troubled look of an eldest brother unable to communicate comfortably with his baby brother while doing the best to keep his composure as a leader of the family, which is a rare sight. I believe it's entirely Perospero's fault when Luffy picks on Daifuku later; Luffy's interest spikes when he learns about Daifuku's ability to summon a genie, and after watching it a few times, he wants to try the summoning himself by rubbing Daifuku, which frightens the latter. Daifuku runs around to dodge Luffy while he attempts to summon the genie first, but he keeps failing as he becomes more anxious, the hilarious sight making everyone roll around while laughing. Thankfully, Katakuri scoops Luffy out of the way when he runs past, and now he's nestled against Katakuri as he munches on the meat the other grilled for him.

Some musician Homies come to perform a sweet and gentle song after everyone gets tired. For some reason, I'm not sitting next to Luffy. Maybe we were together at the beginning, but he's always running and hopping around, and I can only watch him from across the campfire when everything finally calms.

Why does he always look so small?

His tiny frame is now relaxed in Katakuri's arms, blowing bubbles as he sleeps soundly.

In this moment, I finally have to face the fact that he indeed beat me. Even without that woman, he'd beat me sooner or later.

He'll surpass me, leaving me far behind, and marching towards his predetermined goal.

What about Katakuri then?

Is Luffy going to surpass him too just like he surpasses me?

I cast a deep look at the still awake Katakuri through the flickering crimson flame.

***

Next day, when I wake up, Luffy and Katakuri have already left the island.

The faithful "General" has followed him onto the ship for Wheat Island.

It's said that Luffy shouted "goodbye" at the top of his lung into my ear before his departure.

How embarrassing, what was I dreaming about that I didn't even wake up?


	8. Chapter 8

Uh, some idiot might have said that when it rains, no matter how carefully you hide under your umbrella, you'll still get wet; or even when there's no single drop of rain, its scent is already here, or some gibberish like that.

All in all -- it basically means troubles will always find you.

And I think Luffy is an existence akin to rain.

***

Before I can start missing him, I've already begun hearing about him.

Of course I never inquire on purpose, it's just any news related to him always finds its way into my ears.

The stories are all bizarre and motley, ironic and ridiculous, like rumors or jokes. Even those telling them might not believe in them, but they are unable to shut their mouths and stop mentioning him again and again.

People talk about him with so much passion, as if he's the first rain ever descended upon Totto Land.

***

Some say he ate several castles the Wheat Island residents specially built for him, which incited a competition among the builders there as they each try to be the first to provide housing for Charlotte Luffy.

Some say they encountered him and Katakuri on the sea when they went out to fight together, and his fists are as strong as Katakuri's. Sometimes he becomes larger than even Katakuri, and sometimes he's too tiny to even be seen, but he's as undefeatable as Katakuri, making his crew feel safe and proud.

Some say Charlotte Luffy is a fool, because he has no common sense in seafaring, nor does he have any dignity as a leader. If not for Katakuri being with him all the time, he can't even command a ship to leave the port.

Immediately someone else cuts in and says bullshit, he saw with his own eye that Luffy was sitting alone on the figurehead as he commanded a giant ship, its broad sails filled with wind, and its tall masts casting moving shadows on the ground. There was no Katakuri on the ship but a smiling crew, they were sailing and singing, and you could smell the wonderful scent of cooking when it passed by the shore.

"Ha, that time --" Another laughs with a knowing expression, "Lord Katakuri got so mad that time, the little brother stole a ship all because they had a squabble. It was said he tried to sneak out on the ship to visit other big brothers on neighboring islands, but Katakuri caught up to him before he could get far, and then they fought on the ship."

Someone else jumps out to refute: "Nonsense, Katakuri never has squabbles with his brothers, and he treats this Charlotte especially well. I'm a Wheat Island resident myself, and I live on the street closest to the lord's castle in the townceter. I saw it with my own eyes once, that Luffy wrapped himself on a pillar of a house by the street while throwing a tantrum at Lord Katakuri, and in the end the Lord had to haul away the pillar together with Luffy after taking it down. Even so, there wasn't one word of blame from Lord Katakuri!"

"Yeah that's right, and my uncle works as a gardener in the castle of the Minister of Flour, he says there's a new statue looking exactly like Charlotte Luffy in the garden!"

More and more people come forth to provide their firsthand accounts:

"But they did have a squabble! It's said that since Luffy is extremely fond of sleeping on the figurehead, which is no place for sleeping, there have been several incidents of him falling into the sea. And you know he's a fruit user and can't swim at all, so he was almost drowned every single time, and Lord Minister of Flour had a spat with him because of that!"

"What's there to fight about, simply fish him out whenever he falls, there're at least three lifeguards taking turns on duty on every fruit user's ship. Or just don't sleep on the figurehead, Lord Katakuri's ship is said to be massive like a small island."

"According to my nephew, well, he's a sailor on one of Katakuri-san's ships, it's said that the figurehead is Luffy's favorite spot, and he insists that it's his special seat and doesn't want to get off from there no matter what you say. So Lord Katakuri just... um... anyway he got mad, and cancelled Luffy's privilege of sailing alone. Now they're always together, and if Luffy falls again from the figurehead during sleep, he's there to catch him in time. Eek, Katakuri-san is so considerate and amazing!"

"But Little Brother Luffy is quite energetic, while the Minister of Flour can't leave his territory at the drop of a hat. Many have seen Luffy wandering the shipyard, saying he wants to find an awesome ship to adventure onto the sea. Despite being short, he's really strong, and the shipwrights all love him. There's no way to hold him back from sailing out forever."

"Did you guys forget about that particularly sunny and warm afternoon? It was time for merienda, and the wall of the highest castle on Wheat Island was punched a hole, what do you think that was? That was them fighting! The dust that fell in my tea cup was the proof!"

"That's no fighting! Don't you know those two Charlottes fight as their usual pastime? After all, Luffy has declared in front of everyone that he'll beat Lord Katakuri, and from then on, they'll fight whenever there's a chance."

"Yeah right, has your mirror never shattered out of the blue? Didn't you see Ms. Brûlée come running exasperated that day? It's said they specifically requested a mirror to the Mirro-World from Ms. Brûlée so they can fight in there."

"Hahahaha, I've never heard about that, but every one of our people knows this: our Ms. Brûlée gave her courier an order to never tell her any news from Wheat Island again, and it's said she even starved the transponder snail designated to Katakuri for a whole week!"

"That has to be because they've broken too many mirrors!"

Everyone is enchanted, voices overlapping as hundreds of mouths speaking at the same time, buzzing like thousands of flies, bzzzzz, KatakuriKatakuri, bzzzzz, LuffyLuffyLuffy! Even the Homies seem to have something to say:

"Charlotte Luffy is adorable, he was going to eat me, but I spoke, so he spat me out and apologized to me."

"Luffy has that talking map at hand, and of course the snooty map told me himself that without him, Luffy couldn't even find his way home."

"He was bragging, there's no need for him. Luffy-san has a super large biscuit general, it's a gift from the Minister of Biscuit, and he'll take him anywhere he wants to go, so there's no need for a map."

"The Minister of Biscuit is too stingy, there's no way he'll give anyone gifts hahahahahaha."

"It can't be larger than the mochi statue the Minister of Flour made for him!"

"......"

"......"

"......"

I have no idea why Anglais put souls so gossipy in his toy airplanes, and I have no idea why I suddenly have anything to do with the "favorite little brother" poll this year which I never participated in before. If you're here to solicit my vote, then don't bring these chatterbox Homies and let them run loose in my room please?

I wave the ballot in my hand impatiently while directing my biscuits to shove all the toy plane Homies in a sack.

"Since Big Brother Cracker lost to Luffy once, surely you won't vote for him, right? Then don't waste the vote and give it to me!"

Anglais stares at me as he stretches to hang on to the edge of the desk. After a moment of silence, I decide to get him a stepping stool.

"I'll grow tall one day, just like big brothers and sisters, but Luffy won't, he's already 19. I said to him he would't grow any taller, and he cheated by stretching his legs!"

I kick the stool under Anglais' feet in silence to, uh, help him grow taller.

"Vote for me, Big Brother Cracker!" He begs me persistently, his round nose glossy with oil.

"Have many people voted for Luffy?"

"Tch, who knows, the adults are always fickle! Luffy is just a manipulative bitch with a cute smile!"

\-- Calling someone a name so vile and foul, you're not exactly an "adorable little brother" in my book.

"There's a 'favorite big brother' vote too, who did you vote for?"

"Um..."

I roll my eyes feebly, it's too late to lie now, since the traces on this ballot is clearly showing "Katakuri."

Then who does Luffy vote for?

Shit, does he even know how to write?

***

In any case, it seems Luffy has never disappeared from my life.

No, the better way to put it may be that there has never been another "Charlotte" stirring up my life as much as him before. It's no wonder I feel so fed up when I hear his voice echoing through the public channel all of a sudden.

***

"Hello hello, ah, sorry, since Biscal says I can use this..."

"It's Bascul!"

"Ah, excuse me, Bukul is my navigator, shishi..."

"Get people's name right!"

"Anyway, the sea here unexpectedly froze over, and somehow I smothered the fire that could be used to thaw the ice... Urgh, so much trouble... Sorry, it's all my fault!"

"... We should call Lord Minister of Flo-"

"Can someone come over and help? And bring some food too? I'm almost through with our emergency food..."

"This is not how you use this channel, Luffy!"

I only realize the eyes of the transponder snail are showing the line is busy after I finish my sentence. There must be a lot of people who can't help but answer him at the same time just like me. Fuck him, is he a moron? He's seriously a big mo-

"Cracker!" The snail suddenly cracks an absurdly huge grin, and the familiar scar that resembles a smily face also appears on its face. Shit, I did not expect it to connect at all, and I instinctively cradle the snail with both hands and lift it up while still having my feet up on the desk, making it an incredibly awkward position. I hear my bones crack with a crispy "pop", and let out another cuss in silence.

"Is that Cracker? Why aren't you talking?" Luffy's voice is still calling me cheerily and distantly, and the transponder snail in my hand maintains its gaze on me with its round eyes, "why is this snail blushing? Is it hot over there?"

"Shut up!!!" Why did I answer him? Why did I answer him over the emergency public channel? He's such a pain in the butt.

"Where are you?" I spit out.

"Uh... Ummm... Underneath a cloud that looks like a pie, and there's an island that looks like a chunk of bone-in meat in the distance."

I hear a fit of snicker from behind. Fine, I've memorized your voices.

"Bascul! Coordinates!"

I ring up Brûlée right after I hang up, and she slowly picks up the phone after quite a while.

"Brûlée, do you have a mirror that connects directly to Luffy's ship? Huh? You want to know why? Of course it's because I want to go there and whoop his ass right now!"

I never expect Brûlée to hang up on me the next second.

When I try to call again, it seems the snail is now in hibernation.

?????

***

Even with my immediate departure, it's already evening when I reach Luffy's location.

My crew are busy with thawing the ice, while I march across the frozen surface as soon as I see that idiot's ship.

"Yoooo- Crackeeeer-!"

With yet a lot of distance between us, the familiar voice sweet as mochi is already ringing out.

I'm not the type to pretend not hearing it when someone calls me, especially not when I see Luffy waving his rubber hand enthusiastically. I quicken my pace, and run towards him like it's only natural.

"You're here!"

When we're finally facing each other, his tone is rather casual and relaxed.

All I end up doing is pinching his cheek with my raised hand. He must be eating a lot everyday but he's not gaining any weigh. Before I can start scolding him for being careless, he immediately goes for my hair and tugs it without hesitation. It's only been a few days and he's already lost the respect for his seniors, huh? If he's not letting go, then I won't either, thus my other hand grabs onto his other cheek, and as expected, his other hand latches on to my hair on the other side too.

"Damn brat!" I cuss out, but I can't control the corners of my mouth from going upward.

"Biscuit crumbs!" He returns "ferociously."

Alright, he needs to learn how to step up his insult game. I keep pulling his rubber face, and he jumps up and wraps his legs around my waist without thinking.

I let go instantly.

But his legs are still wrapped tightly around my waist, our bellies pressed together, his hand still in my hair, and I end up being the weirdo with two empty hands extended to the sides.

\-- I seem like a pervert.

I'm unable to keep walking like this after two steps.

\-- Scratch "seem like."

I curl my fingers a few times, and eventually settle for supporting Luffy's butt with my hands.

"G-Get down." My teeth are sore from clenching too hard.

"Nooooooo! I'm too hungry to walk..."

How much have you been spoiling him, Katakuri?!

I clap out some biscuit soldiers to drag Luffy off of me.

Fuckhimfuckhimfuckhimfuckhimfuckhimfuckhimfuckhimfuckhimfuckhimfuckhim...

I swear frantically under my breath. Looking up, I see several faces pressed against the portholes that retract right away when they meet my glare.

\-- Fuck. You.

***

The thawing work that would only take a few hours is delayed by sudden snow. The weather in the New World often turns from good to bad, and bad to worse, so I'm now trapped as well when it's gone dark completely. However, Luffy doesn't seem to be in a hurry, or maybe he hasn't realized the real crisis, and when I climb onto the deck, he's lying there faceup with mouth wide open.

"It's so nice here!" He breathes white puffs towards the sky without looking at me, "even the snow is sweet."

"Aren't you cold?" I nudge him with my tiptoe. Although the snow in Totto Land tastes like cotton candy, it's still cold, not to mention the dock is made of special steel, and Luffy's still wearing summer clothes. Doesn't he feel cold?

"Ahhhhhhhhh, it's freezing!" He finally comes around and curls into a ball with a loud sneeze.

I let out a sigh and nudges him again: "Now go inside!"

"No!" He opens his mouth again and sticks out his tongue.

"I've brought a lot of food."

"No!"

"Then come into the biscuit suit!"

"But I want to watch the sky. Look, the snowflakes are mixed with the stars, how do you tell them apart?"

I don't know if kids his age all have strange questions like this. Luffy finally turns his head to look at me, his eyes brighter than any of the stars in the nightsky, and his smile thousands of times sweeter than the artificial sugary flakes falling from the sky.

"Cracker, can you tell them apart?"

Why am I always the one to back off when facing him?

When I return with heavy winter coats, he's already sat up hugging his knees. I deliberately hurl the clothes towards his head, and he only giggles with an expression of "I've been waiting for you." He's an extremely headstrong brat who doesn't even wear his clothes properly, and it ends up with him hiding in my coat and his head supporting my chin. He steals warmth from me while making me pick out snowflakes and stars one by one.

Between the sky and the earth, the sounds are small and various.

The sound of snow falling, the sound of wood and metal silently trembling as the snow falls on the ship, the sound of my breath as wood and metal decaying ceaselessly and quietly, and Luffy's voice amid the sound of my breath. The only lamp left out paints our shadows long, merging the two of them in one, as if Luffy and I are the last two people in the world. The sense of solitude gives me courage, the courage to not only act fearlessly but also thoughtlessly.

No other excuses, I slowly tighten my arms around Luffy just because "I want to."

His slenderness, his softness, his voice, his scent, his strength, and his warmth.

So close. So close. He's within reach, the only thing I need to do is to hold on to him.

"Cracker?"

"Yes?" This is probably the first time that I answer him so calmly and tenderly.

He turns around his body.

Anger, determination, confusion, curiosity, trust, and happiness, he's gazed at me with the same eyes many times, and when I try to recall, I find those emotions firmly and carefully etched in my memories. Maybe when my eyes first fall upon him, my memory has automatically started recording him. This might sound extremely sappy, but I have no time to be bashful, because I'm busy memorizing the latest way he looks at me. He's staring at me expectantly, and I don't want to miss any of it.

"Shall we go together?"

"Huh?"

"Leave here."

"Where?"

Luffy is amused by my words. He's hiding his limbs in the coat, so he simply bumps me with his head, "what are you thinking? I'm talking about something really important to you!"

He straightens his face, although still lacking an air of authority, there is a bit of cautiousness.

"Then talk, I'm listening." I use the opportunity to pull him closer.

"Let's leave here, leave Totto Land, and head to the outside world."

"......"

"Though I feel sorry to Mama, but the one to become the Pirate King, is me! I am --"

I shoot up on my feet, and Luffy falls onto the floor from my embrace. He props up one leg, looking at me unperturbed, as if he's talking about something as mundane as "what to eat for midnight snack later."

**"I am the man who'll become the Pirate King."**

I'm too shocked to speak a single word, as if a snowflake has just deafened me.

Luffy waits patiently for a while, and eventually stands up as he dusts off snow from his behind.

"Go with me, Cracker, be my crew, we'll go to the New World together."

"Don-don't be kidding!" I swing my hand, trying to push him aside, but instead hitting his unyielding body with a loud thud, "are you crazy? No one leaves Totto Land, you know nothing about Mama, you -"

That's right, he knows nothing about Mama.

He knows nothing about Mama's world or us.

And he can't.

Something I've been intentionally ignoring suddenly turns into the sharpest blade, slicing me up from inside out. I almost lose my breath.

Even when the memories are stripped, even after filling the void with new relationships and emotions, even after sharing the surname and the power, he's still him. And even if I - we offer him everything, what he wants is still something we can't give.

But it's all too late. Katakuri has dragged every one of us into a sweet party for his own selfish motive. A party will eventually end, and there are only two endings for the Charlottes' parties: new family member, or new death.

Has Katakuri foreseen the ending?

"Have you talked to Katakuri about this?"

I have thousands of questions in my heart, but the one I finally choose to ask is this weird one. Yet I know this is what I want to know the most at this moment. When the end approaches, human instinct will produce a predictive intuition even without excellent Observation Haki.

Ah, so everything is about to be over, so this is the end.

Like a strong gravity is there to pull everyone towards the end, concealment and sophistry are no longer necessary, and honesty to oneself is easier to achieve.

What really is the relationship between Monkey D. Luffy and Charlotte Katakuri, it's not because he can't lie that I choose to ask him, but because --

"Katakuri is leaving with me! So he's my first crew member, and you're the second!"

I erupt into a fit of cackling like an animal that just got its neck snapped. This is embarrasing, but I don't care any more. See, this is also a type of courage. I hold Luffy's shoulders firmly, pinning him to the spot.

"What are you joking about, there's no way he'll leave Totto Land!"

"I'm not joking, he already promised me."

"And you believe him?"

**"Why not, he's never lied to me."**

Liar!

Katakuri that damn liar!

He's the only one that lies to you!

He's been lying to you from the very beginning, the reason you don't remember your past, the reason why you're here, the reason you want to leave, it's all because --

I only feel my tremble when Luffy holds my hand.

"Don't worry, Cracker, it's alright." He generously offers his hug as usual, "it's OK if you really don't want to leave. But we'll meet again some day, mm-hm, and we'll fight. I'll beat you, and I'll beat Big Mom, but I'll always remember you're my big brother too, **I'm never going to forget again.** "

Naïve. Foolish. Strong.

"What are you talking about? There's no way you can beat me." Another Cracker is speaking on my behalf.

He wears my body and uses my tongue, and I'm his biscuit soldier.

As the punishment for theft, to cover up the crime, I'll have to lie, one after another, until the final judgement day.

"We'll know by then!" He says casually. The look of a king of the sea is already showing beneath his dark, fluffy bang, then it's all gone like sunlight scattered by countless waves when he starts smiling again, yet the sun itself remains shining in the sky.

And the sun is untouchable.

"But I still want you to come -"

I reach out to cover Luffy's eyes, and drop a quick peck on his half closed lips.

"Eat your snow."

Shameless me.

"It's sweet."

***

I know it immediately when Katakuri climbs onto the ship.

Luffy is sleeping right next to me. He's fidgety in his sleep, sticking out his limbs and sprawling all over the place. I was fine with it, but as soon as I sense Katakuri approaching, I let go of him quietly.

He brought this pure disaster.

Then he shall take it away.

Katakuri gently picks up Luffy, the warmth that's been on top of me all night suddenly disappears, but the lingering warmth remains, giving me an illusion of Luffy still sleeping in my arms, then the illusion turns cold and hard as time passes.

I turn around, to the other side of the deck that is freezing cold.

Katakuri reaches out to pat my head at this moment.

I should leap up and question him, or at lease say something, instead I keep my eyes tightly shut, my body curling into a ball and remaining as stiff and hard as my biscuit.

I hear fabrics rustle, I hear Luffy's grumble in his dreams, and I hear Katakuri's satisfied sigh.

It's a sigh shameful for a warrior, a sound only made by the lazy ones when they drop their butt on the floor.

When Katakuri lets out that sound as he picks up Luffy, it's like the god of war falling down, like a tired traveler returning home.

I can only shut my eyes tight and pretend none of it exists.

I don't know if it was a spur of the moment when Katakuri first decided to keep Luffy, or because of some unseen changes that had been happening long before.

I don't know if Katakuri was sincere when he promised Luffy to leave with him, or just another lie to deceive him.

I don't know what the future will be like, and I don't even know what'll happen the next second.

What about Katakuri? He saw everything he's seeing a dozen of seconds ago.

Has he really never doubted what he sees?

Has he really never wavered?

Is he the foreseer of future or a prisoner cursed by "future?"

Is the future he eventually faces the same as he saw?

My brain is jumbled with all the thoughts. It's getting colder, they should leave soon, I want to be back in the cabin once they are gone.

But I'll never mention to Katakuri about what happened tonight, because everything on this snowy night belongs to me and Luffy only.

I'll never share with anyone.

Never.


	9. Chapter 9

The end is here sooner than expected.

Well, actually, it's something that's destined to happen despite my wishing against it.

So, it's "sooner" than I expected no matter when it happens.

***

When Brûlée jumped out of the mirror, I was spacing out by my dining table. If it was a child Brûlée, she'd at most yell into my ear when trying to get my attention. But now, she has proven that she's lost her manners of greeting her big brother properly by kicking over my chair.

Sigh, why aren't girls cute any more when they've grown up? Although she wasn't that cute to begin with.

"Why didn't you pick up your transponder snail?"

I lie on the floor slovenly and look around, then point to the foot of the table.

A bottle of whisky was smashed on the floor at some point, and quite a few snails have gathered around the puddle of golden liquid having a good time. Some of them are for public, and some are personalized, but all of them are drunk. It's been too peaceful and boring these days, and I'm reminded that I probably haven't fed them in a long time.

"What are you do-"

Brûlée looks down at me from above with hands on her hips, but her sentence trails off midway as her eyes fall on something, and it's too late when I realize what she just saw.

"That's Luffy, right?"

"Uh..."

"The cookie on your table, why does it look like Luffy?"

"Er..."

"Wait a sec..." Brûlée steps right over my head, "holy shit you've made a lot of 'Luffy's!' Are you eating them with tea? And with strawberry jelly too? Do you even like sweet food?"

"Hey--"

"You got better at it, is this the first one you made? The face looks shoddy. Look at this one, its expression is much more natural..."

I clap my hands quickly, turning all these uninspiring garbage into crumbs before Brûlée can pick up the next one.

"Tch, meanie. Perospero has made better ones."

Compared to Brûlée discovering me making Luffy cookies, her know-it-all expression and the slight look of sympathy hidden underneath her sarcasm embarass me more.

"It's not what you think." I raise my head painfully, propping up my upper body but too lazy to actually get up, which allows Brûlée to occupy the high ground again after she turns around.

"Every one of you older brothers are like this." Her finger goes straight to the spot between my eyebrows and pokes it hard, "wake up!"

"What do you mean 'wake up?'" I rub my forehead in pain, and finally stand up after blocking off her hand. Though I'm taller than her, Brûlée's stare is now even more vehement.

I see her open her mouth, the lips shaping into "Luffy", but the actual words coming out of her mouth are "the enemies are here."

"Who?"

"Kaido."

Now I'm completely sober.

We don't know much about Kaido and Mama's past grudge, but we fought that drunkard so many times since we were little, there was no end to it. It wasn't until both Mama and Kaido had become emperors and each has consolidated their own territory that the war died down, not to mention there were White Beard and Red Hair too. Oh, speaking of which, there is no White Beard any more, the traitor Marshall has replaced him after Paramount War. I've known all these for a long time, but only realize that I've heard Luffy's name much earlier before as I recall them now. Further search in my memory makes some things even clearer, yet making them harder to face at the same time, just like when I was little, I'd go to the bathroom alone after hearing a horror story, and I'd wash my hands in front of the mirror but wouldn't dare to look up at any time.

"Hey!" Thanks to Brûlée smacking me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Hasn't Kaido been hiding in the Land of Wano for years without making any splash? Why attacking us now?"

"They appeared suddenly within our territory a few hours ago."

"Why was there no alarm?"

"Their ships descended from the sky, the territorial sea slugs didn't have enough time to find out."

"Let's go." I fasten my sword on the belt.

"So why didn't you answer the snail?" Brûlée pulls me to a stop, "we aren't fighting yet! Their ships are all in the Sweet City harbor at the moment, only Kaido and a few of his men got off, and Mama forbids us to act without permission too. They are two Emperors of the Sea after all, it'll become a full-on war if we start fighting rashly... Oh! Big Brother Katakuri already went over there, but he wanted me to find you."

"For what?"

"He wants you to keep an eye on Luffy."

"Huh?" I freeze for a second, then blurt out, "why?"

Brûlée falls silent again, as if her mouth is stuck together by candy. She grinds her teeth with a complicated expression, her eyes following me around. To be honest, I'm a little uneasy under her gaze.

"Big Brother Cracker, **let's say goodbye to Luffy.** "

Despite my immense shock inside, I'm making no sound at that moment.

"The chaos this time is our best chance." Brûlée's slim fingers clutch my arm tightly, "you and Katakuri are both too confident, but I'm different, I'm OK with running away if I can't defeat my enemy. If..."

"What's exactly happening?" I raise my voice to interrupt Brûlée, "Katakuri... What's going on with Luffy?"

"The sea slugs didn't detect Kaido, but they discovered the Straw Hats' ship first. Kaido appeared right after. They were the ones that lured in Kaido."

Is that possible? A small pirate group that has already lost its captain, now trying to stoke a war between two Emperors of the Sea.

Why are they doing this? Just because...

**What a bunch of nutjobs.**

I scoop up the alarm transponder snail and slap it a few times, it hiccups: "Hey, Luffy! Where are - ..., hic, here to get you, hey - ... hic... we - ..."

It's a voice I've never heard before.

"It's his crew." The calmness in Brûlée's tone makes me scowl, "they snatched a public transponder snail, and they've been looking for Luffy."

"And Luffy?"

"They're here for him."

"Where is he?"

"Leave him alone." There is a hardened and gritty resolve in Brûlée's voice. She even sits down and makes me face the cold mirror alone.

"What are you talking about?" I stare at Brûlée's reflection in the mirror, "where is Luffy? Don't you always do whatever Katakuri tells you to do?"

"It's exactly because I know what Katakuri wants." Brûlée says as she casts me a meaningful look, "that's why I say so. And I treat Luffy better even than you guys." Her tone is indisputable.

I turn around and walk towards Brûlée, she sits up instinctually. I'm the 10th son of Big Mom, I'm one of the Sweet 3 Generals of Totto Land, I'm Charlotte Cracker. I always fight alone, because I'm strong, and also because I do not like anyone questioning me.

Or challenging me.

"What happened to Luffy?"

I plant my hand on the back of the chair that Brûlée is sitting in and lean forward past her, she finally realizes something is up and turns her head too.

It's the most ordinary nice weather of Totto Land outside, the window is half open, the clouds are white and the wind sweet, until a stretch of color that doesn't belong here appears.

Reiju, the woman with soft pink hair, represents deadly poison.

Her smile is polite and reserved, with a born superiority of a royal. But she's also a smart woman, so that superiority is not unpleasant to people who're not enemies.

"We can't find Luffy." She no longer hides her presence and hurls herself over the window sill to come inside.

"Since we haven't been able to get in touch with you, Lord Perospero sent me to check on you. Your transponder snail has kept the last message because it's drunk, but we actually cut off the line as soon as we found out the Straw Hats stole a snail. Maybe we played right into their hands."

"Can't find Luffy?" Brûlée is a little surprised, "I did ask him to stay..."

"It wouldn't be Luffy if he listened to you and stayed behind, no matter he's a Monkey or a Charlotte."

I don't like her tone like she's all chummy with Luffy, but she's right. I look at Brûlée, the attitude in her eyes remains the same, but the situation has changed.

"If you have something else to attend to..." She implies, apparently heard all the conversation between me and Brûlée, "I'll go look for Luffy as per Lord Perospero's instruction."

"No need." I walk towards her and press my hand on her slim shoulder, "we'll go look for him together."

"Do you know how to find him?"

I look at Brûlée and she shrugs, of course she didn't leave him any mirror or other means of communication if she planned to "say goodbye to him" from the beginning.

"If you know a way, say it now." I don't know if genetically modified humans can feel pain or not, so I'll just have to keep adding pressure and see how I can break them.

"My body is covered in poison too." Reiju raises her head to look at me, the smile on her face stays unchanged whether I threaten her or let her go, "but we're no longer enemies, just like Little Brother Luffy. Speaking of that, I met him before you guys did, the kid ate some armored stonefish and turned quite delicious."

She seems to remember something interesting and the corners of her eyes wrinkle with smile: "Glad I saved him then, now I can find him." Reiju licks her fingertips as she speaks, then blows out a pink, misty butterfly from between her lips, "go find that little glutton."

Germa 66 was targeted by Mama due to their powerful army of clone soldiers, and currently it seems the development of their scientific technologies is far beyond our imagination, which is probably the exact reason that Mama didn't eliminate them all. I see the pink butterfly take off gracefully, but it ends up orbiting me for a round first, then finally flies away with a flap of wings after I dismiss it with a wave.

"Let's follow it." Reiju blinks at me and takes off into the air first, "it remembers Luffy's scent."

***

For whatever reason, I sent Brûlée to report the situation on our side to Katakuri first. Catching up to those strange boots of Germa 66 took me some more time, and when I finally see the coastline, Reiju is already there with Luffy. The rubber idiot is talking to Reiju about something, gesturing around full of excitement, and the butterfly circles him like crazy. It amuses Luffy; and when I go over there to smack his head, he's so focused on capturing the butterfly that he winds up tangling his long rubber arms together.

"What are you doing?!" I lift him up, shaking him violently until he untwines his arms and puts them around my neck. I slap his butt, now totally unperturbed about it, and he jumps nimbly onto the ground using my palm as a stepping stone.

"The Straw Hats are here!" He says to me excitedly, the sweat covering his face tells me he ran for a long time, "they are looking for me too! Awesome! I'm familiar with those voices, and my heart also tells me these are the voices I've been looking forward to! Anyway, it's my fight, and I won't lose again this time."

I clench my teeth, glaring at him with hands on my hips. Luffy is even less perceptive to other people's emotions when he's fully engrossed in something.

"Then why are you here?" Reiju, on the other hand, casually continues their chat.

"He says they're on the east coast, so I come to find them."

"This is the southwest coast, you dimwit!" I can't help yelling at him.

"Ohh, that's why I don't see them anywhere!"

"And what if you see them, are you going to fight all of them alone?"

"Why not?" He cracks his fists, "just you see it, I'll beat not only the crew, but also Straw Hat by myself!"

Reiju finally snickers, Luffy seems offended and looks at her with a pout: "You don't believe me? I'm very strong."

"But Straw Hat is very strong too, and I think he's stronger than you."

"Ahhhh! I'll beat him for sure!" Provocation always works on idiots, and Luffy shouts even louder. Reiju smiles dotingly like a big sister who has succeeded in pranking her little brother. Her butterfly finally finds a landing spot and settles down on Luffy's head, its wings open and close like an ostentatious flower.

Anger boils slowly in my head like a pot of water, I snatch the butterfly and crush it in my hands without thinking.

"What's wrong, Cracker?" Luffy blinks in confusion. My gloves start to corrode and reek from the pink powder, so I take them off right away. Reiju shrugs unapologetically.

"Nothing would happen if you didn't crush it."

My anger grows, and I wish I could destroy her right now. Luffy only stares at the last bits of powder with more curiosity, utterly amazed: "What a mysterious butterfly!"

I grab Luffy by his clothes and lift him up.

"Where are you taking me?" Luffy reaches out to hug me, but I immediately extend my arm to keep him away.

"Taking you back."

"Back where?"

"What do you mean 'where?' Back at my place."

"No, I want to go find Straw Hat."

"You don't even know where the hell he is!"

"Then I'll search along the coast, I'll find him eventually."

"No."

"I don't want to!"

"I won't allow it."

"... Then I won't allow you to not allow me!"

"Are you a child?"

"Of course not, let me down!" Luffy starts kicking around, I ignore his tantrum being confident in my height over him, but he ends up kicking me hard several times, you fucker really aren't holding back!

"You asshole --" I drop my politeness, clutching all his four monkey paws in my two hands and swinging him in midair, "why don't you try kicking again --"

He seriously hits me with Haki!

It -- hurts -- so -- much!!!!!

"Hm, you're so weak, Cracker, Katakuri would have dodged that."

Today I'll whoop you ass and show you who's your big brother!

Reiju suddenly grabs my wrist when I raise my hand.

"What are you doing?" I thrash my arm to wrestle out of her hand, now completely venting my anger on her. She somersaults in the air, lands on her feet, and finally steadies herself after taking a few steps back. I stare at her coldly, although she's sort of one of us now after she surrendered, there won't be any repercussion if I kill her, and we both know it.

"Luffy." She disengages from me and looks at Luffy, "Katakuri sent us to bring you back."

To my surprise, Luffy is even more upset. He puffs his cheeks, sticks out his chest, hands on his hips, and takes a deep breath: "No way!" He's voice is loud enough to reach the entire island, "we had a squabble, he wouldn't let me fight Kaido, so I won't listen to him either."

"You want to fight Kaido too?"

Katakuri was the one that pissed him off, but I have to face Luffy's wrath now.

"You won't let me fight Kaido, and you won't let me fight Straw Hat, are you my big brothers or no? 'Cuz you don't seem to trust me!"

He is genuinely infuriated this time, his eyes pinning me down on the spot. This is the other Luffy I'm familiar with, the one that fought me for a whole night without giving up --

"Not back to Lord Cracker's island, but to a fortress under his management. That's where Straw Hat is going, you can wait for him to come to you."

Reiju speaks up again, and I can't help but feel relieved. This time I silently acknowledge her action with a look.

"Why does he have to go there?"

"Because Straw Hat promised his crewmate that he'd be there to rescue his family."

"Really?" Luffy looks at me, "we're holding Straw Hat's crewmate's family captive?"

I look at Reiju speechlessly.

"Hey, then we're like the bad guys..."

"His family are not exactly good people." I spit out, not expecting Reiju to repeat calmly after me, "yeah, they're a bunch of bad guys rotten to the bone."

"Oh, so Straw Hat is indeed not a good guy..." He tilts his head and frowns, like he's again thinking hard about something.

"Are you going or not?" I'm scared that he'll get another one of those "headaches."

"I am!" He replies instantly, and nudges closer to me again as if he's totally forgotten what just happened.

Seems the current crisis is handled for now. I lean closer to Reiju when Luffy dashes ahead in excitement.

"You'd better not be planning something."

"This is Lord Perospero's idea." Reiju's polite smile is back on her face, "after all, is there any prison more impenetrable than the one holding my brothers in Totto Land?"


	10. Chapter 10

I've only heard a few words from Daifuku about the take-over of Germa 66. They stayed behind to guard the rear so the rest of the Straw Hats could escape. Their overconfidence led to them all being shot by special bullets, but since no one knew how to unarm their raid suits, they were all left alive in the end. With his children held hostage, the head of the Vinsmoke family, Judge, continues the research of genetically modified humans for Big Mom, and Mama even hopes he can complete the gigantification project. The three sons of the Vinsmokes are kept in a reinforced prison in exchange for the father's life.

"You seem to be quite at ease." I sneer at Reiju.

She's not at all provoked or ashamed: "Because my brothers' first priority is to fight, their mission is to become the ultimate warriors of Germa 66 under the premise of completely obeying the Supreme Commander. I'm a little different from them; since I'm a woman, my first priority is to survive at all cost and extend the Vinsmoke bloodline with my best effort."

Reiju winks at me cryptically, then steps aside. The prison for the three Vinsmoke sons are not only reinforced struturally but also well guarded. Reiju didn't lie, Perospero has long since made arrangements; they only let me in after confirming my identity.

We were going to stay in the control room, but something Reiju told Luffy got him deeply interested in seeing the transformation sequence of Germa 66, and he insists on going in to view it in person. Of course I won't permit it, so I tell the guards to turn on the communicator, and order the three prisoners to perform the transformation, any one of them would do.

They look more beat-up on the monitor screen than I expected, no longer high and mighty like when they first arrived in Totto Land. I can tell they've suffered plenty. I heard that to study the scientific technologies of Germa 66, technicians conducted experiments on them every day at the beginning. Maybe Judge finally gave in because of that. That's interesting, if we kept testing, would we find the limits of modified humans? I heard they were all modified during the embryo stage, can they still be called humans? Although they can be injured, they don't feel pain; the only thing in their brains is their mission checklist, there are no concepts of good or bad, right or wrong, and there are no negative emotions like sorrow, distress, panic, or fear. I don't know what kind of father treats his own blood like this, raising a bunch of "monsters" that are neither machines nor humans just to build a powerful army and regain his rule.

Ha.

I burst out a dry laugh.

... Not that I can't understand it.

Luffy bounces his legs as he watches the monitor that takes up an entire wall, expecting to see the legendary super transformation.

Yet the three of them remain still like they're dead.

"Reiju says you can transform too, can you show it to me?" Luffy snatches the mic and requests sincerely.

I see the green-haired guy supposedly named "Yonji" shake his head and look up at the monitor.

"You again, dipshit?" He snaps, looking ridiculous with the ragged cloak still on him.

"Do you know me?"

"Obviously." Yonji is about to say a few more words before the red-haired "Ichiji" gives him a quick upswing of chin, and Yonji lowers his head once more, "I don't care who you are!"

"I hear your raid suits are super awesome, can you do a transformation for me?" Luffy wouldn't be Luffy if he gave up so easily, so he presses, "are you hungry?"

Of course no one responds.

"Do you need to shout some catchphrase when you transform?"

"Are you thirsty?"

"Can you merge into a big robot once you transform?"

"Can you pee with the raid suits on?"

"You're so annoying, just shut your face!"

It's Yonji who finally answers, and Luffy turns around to give me a triumphant grin. This brat is absolutely the son of devil.

"Are your raid suits broken?" He's enjoying it more and more.

"If the raid suits are so awesome, why were you captured?"

"Was it because you had to recharge the suits?"

"If..."

Ichiji reaches out his right hand at the moment. He clenches fist hard, it begins to turn red and hot, and then red sparks appear.

"Ohhhhhhhhh so amazing!" Luffy immediately showers him with compliments without reservation.

"Tch, it looks like a plastic toy." I too, offer my comment without reservation.

And then the plastic toy blasts the monitoring camera.

I get a "you're such a killjoy" expression from Luffy right away.

The control room is quiet for a short while, then a husky voice comes out of the speaker: "Come down here yourself if you want to see."

"Then can I borrow it for a bit? The raid suit..."

But no more sound comes from down below.

Anyone with a brain knows it's apparently a trap down there.

I receive a "please let me go down there, Cracker" face from Luffy.

\-- That "please" might be my imagination.

Anyway, knowing Luffy quite well by now, I slap my knee and stand up defeated as soon as he turns his lips upward and directs a fawning smile at me.

"Let's go." I wave him over in resignation, and Luffy climbs onto my back with a cheer. I hear a group of Chess Peacekeepers making a teasing sound of "ehhhhh."

Tsk, whatever.

I'm worried that Reiju might try something if she's left alone in the control room, so I demand her to come down with us.

***

The realization of how deep this fortress is only comes once we're on the way to the actual prison. It takes more than ten minutes by elevator, and even the air is thinner once we reach the bottom level. Standing before the last entrance, the guards record my biometrics, and explain that the authorized access is only valid for 10 minutes. If we want access again later, we'll have to get a remote authorization by contacting Perospero.

Compared to the totally unsuspecting Luffy, I keep getting an uneasy gut feeling. He leaves us far behind as soon as we arrive, only to snap back because I'm holding his hand tightly.

"What's up with you?!"

"Don't leave my side." I caution him and squeeze his warm and soft palm.

"OK OK, hurry up!" But I suspect he's not listening at all.

After another long and narrow corridor, the floor widens, which means the prison holding the Vinsmokes is right ahead.

They must have heard our footsteps already, yet they're still brazenly hiding in the shadow. Yonji and Niji are sitting on the floor, while Ichiji is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. When Luffy approaches them, I find a fence made entirely of electric currents separating us. The weak electromagnetic buzz sounds extra loud in the empty and dim cell. This is the last line of defense that traps them inside.

"I'm here!" Luffy announces gleefully. The three Vinsmokes starts standing up slowly at last upon hearing his voice. I'm miffed by the sight, and I have the urge to drag one of them out and give him a good beating. They act like they don't see Reiju, and Reiju doesn't seem to have the intention to greet her three little brothers either.

"The thing you just did, do it again for me."

I thought they were going to trash talk again, but Ichiji does it one more time without hesitation, and even attacks the wall with the spark. However, the wall is unscathed after the blast, and not even a scratch is left due to it being made of special material. Apparently it's a letdown for Luffy, he puts on a slightly disappointed face, and even his shoulders, perked up in excitement minutes ago, slump.

"So lame!" He says bluntly.

I'm very pleased to see the Vinsmokes sulking from being offended.

"Told you it's just a plastic toy." I flick Luffy's head, "they're only storybook characters that are meant for fooling children in the North Blue after all."

The green-haired guy shoots up to his feet and takes off the raid suit right in front of us. What the hell, it's said they've never taken off their raid suits during the long time they've been held here. Fuck, I don't want to see this damn scene. The raid suit looks like a drink can once taken off, marked with the same number as on their capes.

\-- Doesn't it look even more like a plastic toy now?

"You wanna see?" Yonji smirks, tossing and catching the stupid can nonchalantly. Luffy nods like crazy, and involuntarily moves closer to them at the same time.

I watch the green-haired completes a transformation with a straight face, totally unmoved and even want to sneer.

\-- The so-called transformation is just a naked guy changing clothes, only idiots like seeing it!

"That's so cool!" The idiot named Luffy tears up, "please, can I try it too?" He takes one more step forward, paying no heed to the crackling currents. Ichiji and I both move into action when Luffy reaches out.

"Hey!"

He's too close to the electric fence, and even putting his hand inside. Ichiji has grabbed his wrist when I try to pull Luffy back by his shoulder.

"Let go." I arch my back, saying it to both Luffy and Ichiji.

"Huh?" Luffy's other hand has already latched onto the electric fence inadvertently.

"What an incredible body, you're totally unaffected since you're rubber." Ichiji is unaffected, and even attempts to drag Luffy in further, "come closer, don't you want a raid suit?" He cracks a crooked smile, "maybe we can give you one."

"Really?" Luffy completely ignores my effort of holding him back, and steps closer inward.

"Don't go." I carefully avoid being electrocuted myself while pulling him closer to me by wrapping my arm around Luffy's waist.

All of them, the four Vinsmokes, have been waiting for this exact moment.

The blue-haired guy named "Niji" who's been quiet the entire time suddenly rushes towards us. Ichiji holds down Luffy, while Niji grabs Luffy's stretched arm. I see a blue electric current flashes through Luffy's body like it's alive, and it hits me in a blink of an eye.

I feel my heart paralyzed and collapse on the floor faceup, unable to react in time.

"Cracker!" I hear Luffy calling me as well as another buzz of electric currents.

I push myself to open my eyes, just in time to see Luffy hauling Ichiji and Niji and slamming them onto the electric fence. The currents deal them damage as well, black smoke goes off from their bodies, and they too fall down on the floor, yet they're bradishing a smile of success at me.

"His heart needs to be defibrillated." Niji snarls, "you have to let us out, he only has about a minute before it's too late."

"How?" Luffy fumbles to compress my chest as he turns to look at them.

"Just stay put."

With Ichiji's voice, a greenish shadow emerges from Reiju's boot. Once it's fully formed, it looks like a skeletal... ghost?

"Being able to hide in a beautiful lady's shoe, my heart is thumping so fast it's going to jump out! Ah, but I don't have a heart!"

"Wow! What's this?" Luffy yells, his stretched arm passing through the ghost's body.

"Yohohohoho, Luffy-san is as energetic as ever!"

"Oh you know me?"

The ghost falls silent. I attempt to stand up, but my body is totally paralyzed. The ghost floats over to me; despite having no eyeballs, I can still feel the angry glare from the black holes of the eye sockets. He then flies into the wall, and soon pokes out his head from one of the corners of the ceiling.

"The generator is here."

I don't know how Reiju passed the weapon check, maybe the ghost helped. She takes out a gun and accurately shoots through the wall, and the electric fence soon disappears.

"Your special bullets are indeed helpful." Reiju smiles at me, and points her gun at my head.

Luffy moves over and completely blocks her with his body. My heart feels even more afflicted, and my sight starts to blur. I hear bullets whooshing, they scrape by Luffy, and leave three bullet holes in the wall behind us.

"Shouldn't leave something so dangerous around." Reiju tosses away the now empty gun.

Right then, Niji crouches down and sneer at me, then looks at Luffy again. His smile disappears under Luffy's fiery stare. He presses his hand on my chest, and a strong electric current once again brings me intense pain. I hold all my cry in the back of my throat; in a few seconds, I hear the sound of blood rushing in my eardrums, and Luffy's face is getting more clear in sight.

I still don't have full control of my body. I wouldn't be taken down so easily by electrocution before, since most of the attack would be blocked by the hard biscuit. The butterfly that eroded my gloves ssems to be part of their plan too. Dammit, my fingers can't stop trembling and I can't use my fruit power, but this place will shut down in 10 minutes, so if I stall them long enough --

"If you want to stall us until the passage closes, know that I copied all your biometrics when I treated you just now." Niji cracks his neck, and when he speaks again, he's using the same voice as mine, "see, it's not a plastic toy, isn't that right, Luffy?"

"Ah, fine by me." I see Luffy become sullen. He squeezes his fists, "because I am about to -- kick your ass."

I haven't seen Luffy fight in a long time, or rather, I haven't seen Luffy so excited in a long time. Reiju was going to say something, but Yonji runs towards Luffy as soon as Luffy starts swinging his fists, as if they've been looking forward to it. They trade blows, the impact sending them backwards, but they dive back in fight instantly. Next, Niji joins them as well, the shockwaves from the fight rocking the walls. They jump around quickly in the fortified space, and whenever the attacks are about to touch me, Luffy will always dash over in time to block them. He's injured for doing so, but his eyes are glittering from the heated fight. Although he's doing it to protect me, there is no doubt he's also indulging in the highs of fighting.

"Seems he's very unhappy being with you." Ichiji rasps. His tone lacks any change in intonation, like a cold and hard machine.

"Well, boys are essentially combative puppies, so sad that he's been kept away from action." Reiju is standing next to Ichiji, and they don't seem to have the intention to join the fight. Reiju darts a glance at me, then turns to speak to the ghost floating by the side, "he's going to recover soon."

This makes me nervous, yet the apparition flies toward Luffy, who's still in battle, and pays me no more attention.

"Yo -- Luffy-san!" The ghost calls out in a strange, old-fashioned voice, "aren't you looking for Straw Hat?"

"Oh, yes!" Luffy turns his head mid-battle, "you're so incredible!"

"Don't get distracted!" Yonji's voice is filled with displeasure. He clutches Luffy's right hand, while Niji clutches his left hand. They have both jumped up in the air, and the two plummet down on Luffy with the help of gravity.

Luffy inhales sharply and inflates when he's about to hit the floor. He pumps himself up into a balloon and ricochet off the two Vinsmokes. Then, Luffy quickly shrinks back and breaks his hands free.

"Jet Gatling!"

Luffy cracks a grin as steam comes out of him. When he lands, Niji and Yonji are just slowly pulling themselves up from the floor. They wipe off the blood stains at the corners of their mouths, their breaths sharp but unrelenting.

"Luffy-san is very strong, yohohohoho, don't underestimate him." The ghost is surprisingly the happiest among all. He floats to Luffy's side, letting out more happy laughter as Luffy tries to touch him, and Luffy smiles cheerfully at him as well.

I finally have my senses back and clap out biscuit soldiers, but the confined space has limited their movements. The floor tremors, I walk towards Luffy, he shoots me a quick glance before focusing his gaze on the ghost again, while the ghost has been staring at Luffy only the entire time.

"I'm here to challenge you on behalf of Straw Hat!" He speaks in a singsong voice, as if singing an aria.

"OK, I accept."

Of course Luffy would say that. He can't hide the joy filling his body: "Are you his crewmate? Wow, I'm jealous! Otherwise I'd absolutely invite you to join me!"

"Yohohohoho, hearing you say so..." The ghost sniffles hard, and I think he'd probably be tearing up if he wasn't a ghost, "then I'll take you there, all of us have been eagerly looking forward to seeing you."

He shapeshifts into a complete body; although still an apparition, I finally remembers who he is from the weird afro.

"Though this is cheating, I can't help but tell you my name now." The intangible apparition holds a cane that's also apparition, bending down to greet him like an old gentleman from last century, "I'm Brook, the musician of the Straw Hat Pirates."

"So it's Brook!"

"Oh, hearing you calling my name again fills my eyes with tears, though I don't have eyes to produce tears, yohohoho..."

"Heh, you are so funny!"

Luffy stares at the ghost, sweat dripping down his forehead even though he's smiling. I see a pained look in his eyes and clench my fists in the biscuit armor, my giant sword swinging down the next moment.

"Time to go." Ichiji orders, and Niji dashes over to Luffy to carry him. My sword falls between him and Brook the ghost, the ground shakes with a cold clashing sound. Since I've turned bigger and the space is limited, I'm slower to turn around compared to everyone else. When I start my chase, they're already running towards the passage. I have to keep up with the strange shoes of Germa 66 while dodging Yonji's incessant attacks the whole way.

"Cracker!" Luffy hangs on Niji's back and looks at me in concern, but he doesn't seem to be putting up much of a struggle.

"Listen. Luffy." Ichiji calls Luffy's name, but pauses abruptly, seeing Luffy's eys still on me. He reaches out to squeeze Luffy's ear.

"Owww -- It hurts!" Luffy swings his fist but Ichiji catches it in his hand.

"Ungrateful brat." Ichiji's words make the other Vinsmokes chuckle, "we only promised 20 minutes to that failure, and we'll move on to do what we want to do if they don't succeed in 20 minutes."

"That failure has failed once, and it's going to be the same this time, haha!" This is Yonji speaking, smashing the walls around me to stall my advance while laughing maniacally.

"You're so rude!" This is Brook the ghost speaking, running to keep up with them.

"I'm only telling the truth. If he still can't remember, then are there any differences to him between us, you, or them?" This is Niji, carrying Luffy while advancing quickly. He turns to look at me when saying this words, and makes a face at me.

"What are you talking about exactly?" Luffy's confused voice only causes another round of bizarre laughter.

"Do your best, Little Brother Luffy." Judging from the sound, Reiju has given him a kiss with a loud smack, "ah, he's delicious as always."

"Yohohohohoho, Luffy-san is so fortunate no matter when!"

"Where exactly are you taking me?"

**"""We're taking you to see Straw Hat!"""**

The chorus of the Vinsmokes echoes in the prison, I believe they're deliberately saying that to my face.

These bastards, I'm going to annihilate every single one of you!


	11. Chapter 11

The only elevator was taken, and I have to resort to stacking up my biscuits in order to get out.

The mess in the control room is duly expected, and I run out of there after a quick glance. Every one of the communication devices must have been destroyed, there is no need to waste my time checking.

When I catch up to Luffy, only Niji and Yonji are there with him.

“Your big brother and sister only left you to deal with me?” My attacks precede my words.

“Reiju and Ichiji’s mission is to rescue the Supreme Commander.”

“Ha, naïve… That old man is imprisoned in a more…”

A massive tremor comes in through the ground right then; my feet slip, and I fall. They, on the other hand, are completely unaffected thanks to their shoes.

“It has begun.” Yonji lifts his head, and following his line of sight, I see thick smoke rising to the sky from afar, with flickers of fire in it. Before I can say anything, another deafening explosion brings more smoke, and a short while of terrifying silence later, more explosions are here. They are not as large as the first one, but they are many and incessant. I’m familiar with this kind of sound, it means a war is getting more and more heated not too far from here.

“That was quick.” Niji pauses his steps as well.

“I didn’t expect them to act so fast.” Yonji licks his lips, trying to take a breather, “they smuggled into Totto Land, then blew up Kaido’s ships.”

Although nobody specifies, it is apparent who the culprits are. The fast chase has covered my body in a film of sweat, and it’s getting too smothering to breathe in the biscuit armor. My throat is dry, and my heart is pounding at a painful rate.

**But I can’t stop, none of us can stop.**

“Challenging two Emperors of the Sea at the same time, they are dead meat.” I command my biscuits trying to bring down Yonji, but he manages to escape with his hand weapon.

“Who knows…” Niji, who’s carrying Luffy, is instead taking it easy, but he doesn’t seem to intend to help. I glance at the still unsuspecting Luffy in his arms, who’s lost in thought while staring at the faraway smoke. Sensing my gaze, Niji leans closer to me, and flies away right when I’m about to catch him.

“The long-time archenemy’s ships are blown up right in front her, is Big Mom going to let go of the opportunity?”

Before I open my mouth, he starts chortling in amusement, and his expression gets more crooked and wicked: “If your ships were suddenly blown up in your archenemy’s territory, would you suspect the Emperor who was confronting you first, or a puny band of pirates?”

I don’t need to answer that with the current development.

Without premonition, the sky above Mama’s chateau is torn apart as two powerful Haki’s clash. After decades of peace maintained by absolute authority, Totto Land is once again plunged into an arduous war with tough enemies. And how many get to know the real reason behind it?

I hear more and more battle cries, and Luffy shakes his head at the noise.

“Incredible.” He fixes his gaze at the ever-changing sky, “this is the strength of Emperors.”

Not fearing, not cowering, he opens his mouth and exclaims after a deep inhale:

“—This is amazing! This is the sea!”

“Ow—" It startles Yonji who’s carrying him, and he lurches comically in the air, “lower your voice, I’m going deaf!”

“Hahahaha sorry, sorry.” Luffy doesn’t look sorry at all, and his eyes are still fixed at afar. He slaps Niji’s shoulder, and bosses him like they’re chummy, “how far are we from that Straw Hat you talked about? And why are you so slow even with your raid suits?”

“You’re such a —” Niji and Yonji erupt into an even louder fit of laughter, “little freak.”

They start sprinting again, and faster than before. They fight back my attacks with full force as if they’re completely uninjured.

What the hell? Why are you two suddenly motivated?

The thought only irritates me further and I swing my sword even harder.

“What a great show.” Yonji breaks another one of my biscuits as he speaks nonchalantly, “Reiju and Ichiji’s rate of success is now raised by 50%.”

“There’s no need to have them back if they can’t rescue father, hahahahaha!”

“That’s right hahahahahahahahaha!”

The two’s callous laughter sounds like flies buzzing.

“Is this all to help you create chaos so you can rescue Judge?”

“No way, this is just a bonus, that’s why we now own that failure a favor.” Yonji waves his hand in annoyance, apparently not willing to talk about it.

“Then why?” I won’t stop here though, Yonji talks a lot more and is an impetuous idiot compared to Niji. I must admit though, with them in Germa’s shoes, I’ll only be left farther behind if I keep chasing. In addition, they’ve dropped their usual belligerence this time and only focus on reaching some destination instead. With every inch they get closer to the coastline, the conclusion becomes more imminent.

Even though it will happen sooner or later, I’m still struggling against it.

Not yet, not yet.

Not yet.

I’ve not yet –

“Huh? Simple.” Yonji slows down as expected. He points to Luffy then to me, and then moves his finger to point to the other side that is now filled with thunderous battle cries.

“To stall **someone even more troublesome than you** , of course.”

“Ha!”

He’s talking about Katakuri.

The rage of being underestimated makes me laugh instead: “What a pity, I am more than enough trouble for you!”

I take the chance when Niji turns to tell Yonji to keep up. Without another word, biscuits appear out of thin air and wall them in. Niji and Yonji want to fly out of there with their shoes, but I smack them down mercilessly like swatting flies.

Luffy is dropped onto the ground as a result, but I don’t feel sorry about it, and even make the biscuit soldiers tread by during the battle: “Hey you, at least fight back a little!”

“Fight back what?” The rubber boy flops down on his back and sprawls out his limbs, relaxing himself while watching us continue the fight.

“Can’t you get off and walk on your own?”

“Then I’d be too fast for you. I’m faster than all of you in my Gear 2.”

“““Bullshit!””” Somehow the three of us end up in a chorus.

Luffy smacks his lips at our growl, takes his time to pick his nose, and finally sits up slowly. He even finds a blade of grass somewhere to put in his mouth, being all annoyingly relaxed.

This damn inconsiderate brat.

I swing my huge sword at him and chase him around for a while.

“Don’t be mad, Cracker.” Luffy dusts his butt that almost got slashed and puts his hands behind his head: “Sigh… I’m so bored… You’re having all the fun fighting each other, but where is Straw Hat? Point me to a direction and I’ll go there myself.”

***

“Who knows where you’ll wander off to if we count on you to find us!”

***

Another round of tremor comes from under my feet, but it’s a lot smaller and closer.

Soon, a metal drill breaks the ground from underneath; when the fast-revolving blue drill stops, a giant robot appears before us.

He smashes several biscuits as soon as he appears, then waves his fists flashily, and strikes a ridiculous pose. Even more ridiculous is the matching background music, and very obviously sung by the pilot himself through a speaker.

“What’s this piece of crap, it’s all look and no use!” Niji and Yonji land on the ground to dodge the robot’s gigantic blue fists.

“Only idiots would be into such clumsy robots!” I find myself agreeing with my enemies again.

“It’s so cool! It’s a robot!” And the idiot named Luffy is once more moved to tears.

Niji’s and Yonji’s weird whirly brows twitch at the same time.

I raise my head to look at the machine: pompadour, big fists, and the black straw hat logo on yellow background that stands out from the red and silver paint. I’m all too familiar with it, because this is exactly what the “biscuit general” that Luffy asked me to make looks like.

“Amazing!” Before I can say anything, Luffy already stretches his arms to wrap around the robot and flies over to plaster his whole body on it.

“Yow! This is –” I hear a loud sniffle from the speaker, “General Franky, yow!”

“So coooooool! So amaziiiiiing! Whoaaaa!”

“Now I’m going to attack you with cannons on my shoulders!”

“Awesome! There’re even cannons! Cracker look! All of you watch out!”

Neither I nor the Vinsmokes respond to him, we all stay very still and simultaneously look at him with arms crosses, hoping he’ll feel some shame as an adult.

\-- We’ve overthought it.

Another round of rowdy music and a door opens on the robot’s chest, then a blue-haired weirdo comes out.

“Franky Cannon!”

I wave my hand to have some biscuits shield me with a blank expression.

“Hey, I need to make it clear first.” Niji is outside the range of attack from the beginning, his arms crossed, “we only agreed to bring Luffy to them, but we’re not associated with them.”

“Heh.” I command the biscuit soldiers behind me to keep attacking the Vinsmokes as he speaks.

***

“Luffy!” I hear another voice, thicker and throatier, a high-pitched childlike voice wet with tears.

A tanuki-like creature jumps out from the robot’s chest and throws himself into Luffy’s face. The sudden thrust pushes both of them onto the ground. When the tanuki lifts his head, I recognize him as the Straw Hats’ pet, “Chopper” from the large hat and the blue nose even with his teary face.

“Luffy… Luffy!” He’s crying hard, probably can’t even say a full sentence besides calling Luffy’s name. Luffy props himself up and looks at him in confusion, letting him smear tears and snot all over him: “Huh, you’re weird, are you a tanuki?”

“Bastard! I’m not a tanuki!” Chopper leaps up and smacks Luffy with his hoof. He lands back on the ground, gives a good wipe to his face, and tries to look strong: “I’m – Tony Tony Chopper! The Straw Hat Pirates’, ship doctor!”

But his sentence still ends up with snot and tears.

“Oh hello! Are you a racoon?”

“I’m a reindeer, you bastard!”

“Sorry, sorry!”

“Hey, Chopper! Why are you introducing yourself before everyone?”

“Shut up! I’m your senior because I got on the ship before you!”

“Yow – then I am the very SUPER – Franky! I’m the Straw Hat Pirates’ shipwright – Yow!”

Luffy sits on the ground with legs crossed, he claps his hand, his white teeth showing with a huge smile: “Hahahaha you’re all so interesting, did I fight you before? I feel like I knew you! But I’m sorry, I don’t remember now.”

The words flow out naturally, his voice for sure filled with pity.

And both Franky and Chopper end up crying harder.

“Are you done whining? That’s enough!”

This voice is familiar to me. The orange-haired woman walks out of the robot’s chest as well, with the same old thunder cloud and annoying rain. Ah, she’s that “Nami.”

“Yo, pretty girl!” Hearts pop out of Yonji’s and Niji’s eyes when they see her, their voices lustful.

However, she’s clearly in a very foul mood: “What took you so long?!” She strikes down lightning as she speaks, hitting me, Niji, and Yonji indiscriminately. Another one of my biscuits is charred and spent. Those two seems fine, but their bodies buzz with electric currents every few steps they take, and their faces are twitching, looking like two machines waiting to be fixed.

Luffy raises his head to look at her, his eyes slightly widen.

Rain begins to fall from the sky, heavier and heavier, pouring down as if to drown everything.

Nami walks over to Luffy, sweeping her wet hair back and clutching that weird staff of hers that serves as a weapon. Luffy remains sitting on the ground, he shakes his head like a puppy, his eyes fixing on her the entire time.

“Are you one of the Straw Hat Pirates too?”

Yet Nami doesn’t introduce herself like everyone else. She simply swings her staff to knock Luffy’s head, only to be nimbly dodged.

“Why are you still sitting on the ground? Aren’t you here to see us?”

“Ahh sorry, sorry.” Luffy stands up obediently, “don’t be so mean!”

Redness eventually emerges around the eyes of the orange-haired woman. Her fiery gaze falls on my face over Luffy’s shoulder, as if trying to burn me clean.

“Hey, you’re too early.” Yonji puts his hands on the hips and complaints.

“You’re way too slow.” Franky finally manages to stop his tears, he jumps off the robot and struts to the Vinsmokes, “hand-over time, you – can – piss – off.”

“Huh? What did you say?” Yonji gets his arms up in a fighting stance but is stopped by Niji.

“Our agreement was to escort him all the way to the coast, are you able to handle this right now?” He says, pointing to me behind him.

“That’s no more your concern.”

A storm cloud has been looming over my head, crackling with lightning; the rain pours down nonstop on my biscuit soldiers with occasional blinding thunderbolts.

Niji darts a glance at me, then towards the unmoved Luffy: “Aren’t you heartless.”

“Huh?”

“Are you not going to help him?”

“What’s with that…” Luffy is wearing an expression of don’t-you-look-down-on-him and turns to shout at me, “oi, Cracker, you need a hand?”

“Focus on taking care of yourself!”

I feel a rush of relief in my chest upon hearing his words. Luffy grins in satisfaction at my answer, which of course makes the three Straw Hats hate me even more. Although I’m not the culprit that turned their captain into this, I’m more than happy to shoulder the responsibility.

I wipe aside my wet and limp hair. If that Nami thinks my biscuit soldiers are still the same as before and would turn soft with a bit of rain, it only means she’s not prepared. In other words, it means their determination to reclaim him is not strong enough, and so will have to accept the consequences that follow.

My heart feels lighter with the thought, just like during the harsh trainings I went through when I was little, I would lose even the strength to move my fingers by the end, and it only made me more fearless. That’s right, we stole Luffy in the first place.

\-- I’ve finally admitted it.

No matter what happens next, the worst outcome is merely back to being enemies.

Thus the Straw Hats should be more afraid of losing than I am.

A so-called thief would consider it a success with every second they keep the treasure in their possession.

I feel the grin on my face gradually broaden.

I raise my hand, the hard as iron biscuit soldiers behind me simultaneously lift their brighter than lightning blades.

Yonji immediately blasts one of them with cannon. Although a hole appears in the middle of the biscuit once the smoke dissipates, it’s still standing its ground, and the hole is filled very soon, too.

Niji whistles teasingly: “We shall take our leave.”

“Huh? Are we really leaving now?” Yonji seems reluctant to leave, an expression so human-like and rare, but Niji is already heading back and hoovers in the air, “the deal is done, it’s pointless to offer extra help.”

When he flies by Luffy, he lowers his shades a little: “Our Supreme Commander has some words for you: though that failure is also a Vinsmoke, we are more…”

“No need to listen to such nonsense!” Nami hastily covers Luffy’s ears, “your Supreme Commander still needs rescue first!”

“Yeah! Just leave! Luffy won’t listen!” The little pet also hops angrily at Luffy’s feet.

“What are you trying to say?” Luffy wants to turn his head but Nami forcefully holds his neck down, “let go of my ears!”

“What a cruel woman, not a shred of amiability as soon as she’s done using us.” Niji puts his shades back on.

“12 minutes to go.” He signs to Luffy.

Chopper and Franky keep making loud noises even after Luffy finally shakes off the hands over his ears, and Niji seems to be determined to finish his speech at his own pace. Luffy concentrating on him probably gives him false encouragement.

“I’m Niji, we’ll meet again.” He deliberately pauses, “maybe we can give you a raid suit then!”

“And I’m Yonji, be sure to remember it!”

Their ostentatious hairstyles and dramatic poses both piss me off immensely, so I send two biscuit soldiers to go after Niji and Yonji as they quickly flee the battleground. Eventually the two soldiers will be too far from me or get smashed to pieces, but they will stall them for a good while, and it would be even better if the crumbs block some circuits or something.

***

“What now? Are you going to take over Luffy and keep running? With that giant robot?” I rest the sword on my shoulder and face the Straw Hats left behind, “if you leave now, I can promise not to chase you, and I’ll even let you leave Totto Land.”

“Oh, I can ride on the robot?” Luffy’s hands are gripped tight by Nami, and his eyes glue back on the robot once hearing my words.

“Sorry.” Franky puts his hands together as he says, and now I’m staring down the black barrel of a cannon appearing between his palms, “you have something cooler to ride on!”

When I leap to dodge the cannon fire, I see Mama’s Zeus emerge from Nami’s staff. He expands rapidly and flies to the feet of Luffy and Nami.

“But I want to ride on the robot more…”

“Shut your face!” Seeing Luffy’s honestly miserable face, Nami is exasperated and tries to knock his head again, and he dodges once more without hesitation.

Nami’s swing hits the air, and abruptly stops. She presses her lips into a line, but back to her mean face in an instant: “Do you want to fight Straw Hat or not? Just get on!”

When Zeus flies over my head with Luffy, Nami, and Chopper on top, I’m wrestling with the giant robot.

“Hey, Zeus! How dare you betray Mama!”

“I don’t want to either.” Zeus mutters, “but Miss Nami’s thunders are too delicious, I’m her loyal servant now.”

Luffy’s boisterous laughter is getting further away quickly. I command a few biscuit soldiers to block the robot and turn around to chase them myself.

***

“Special attack: Green Star, Devil!”

Gigantic vines appear under my feet with yet another unfamiliar voice. No, it’s more like vines suddenly grow out of thin air and trap me inside the moment I jump up. They wrap tightly on my armor and keep squeezing like numerous little green snakes.

“Cracker!” There’s finally a shred of worry in Luffy’s voice. I spring out of my biscuit armor with a kick, but another plant ensnares me.

“Duh duh dum –” Franky is still humming a weird song through the speaker, and a masked man is standing on the shoulder of the robot that is catching up to me. He carries a slingshot longer than his height and shoots another round of ammunition when I break free from the plant again.

Luffy flies to the side of the robot on Zeus and stares at the masked man in amazement.

“Who are you?”

“Before you see your destiny, I will not tell you my name!” He shoulders the slingshot and yells at the top of his lungs, pointing to the distant coastline and looking all fearless and formidable.

“Are you Straw Hat’s crewmate too?”

“I am his just and mighty crewmate!” He retracts his arms and crosses them by his chest, and nods to acknowledge, “you can call me – Sniper King!”

“Sniper King is so cool!” The reindeer cheers in high-pitched voice.

“You look awesome!” Luffy is totally infected by the atmosphere, and Sniper King gets all the more pleased with himself.

“I am even stronger than Straw Hat!”

“Really? Then we should fight first.” Luffy does what he says, and immediately throws a punch. If it weren’t for General Franky catching Sniper King, he would have fallen on his face.

“Eh, you’re not very impressive.” Luffy pouts in displease.

“No one punches people without advanced notice!”

“Told you he doesn’t remember.” Nami props up her chin next to Luffy, her expression is more like enjoying the show rather than sympathy for her crewmate.

Sniper King chokes and turns around to shoot another weird projectile at me. I honestly do not think he can hit me from that far while we’re also moving, but the bullet makes a clean trajectory for my eyes. I hurry to block it with my biscuit armor, the ammunition blows up on impact, releasing an unbearable stench and making me stop and retch.

“See? That’s how awesome I am!” He turns back to Luffy and brags.

***

Running nonstop and making new hard biscuits continuously have cost me a tremendous amount of stamina, and my breaths are becoming shallower. The once excited Luffy seems to sense my exhaustion, although he’s still sitting tight on Zeus, he’s turned around to watch me chasing after him and dodging the attacks.

It’s rather embarrassing to let Luffy see me getting bested, but more embarrassing is the constant guilty pleasure of knowing that he cares. **_I’ve won again,_** the childish thought is like a scab on a freshly healed wound, insufferable and enticing at the same time. I hasten my pace, eyes fixed on Luffy. None of the Straw Hats is forcing Luffy to stay there, he’s free, and he can get off at any time.

If I say it, will he stay for me?

\-- I haven’t made that request so far, however.

I just keep chasing him in silence, like the first time we met.

“Cracker, stop chasing, I’ll be back as soon as I beat Straw Hat.” Luffy blurts out.

He is making a serious promise, and he’s no longer smiling.

I look at Luffy as well as the Straw Hats next to him, who are casting complicated looks at me.

I can’t help but grin, and they must have felt my elation despite the emotionless biscuit armor outside, because I deliberately shouts at them: “What are you joking about? There’s no way I’m giving up on my family!”

Another bolt of lightning is directed to hit the ground right next to me.

“That’s pure bullying.” Luffy says to Nami.

“You know he’s really strong, right? Our total bounties are less than his alone.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell, you are all so reliable!”

“Asshole, who allows you to say that?”

“We’re enemies!”

“I’m not feeling happy even if you praise me, bastard!”

Idiot’s crewmates are all idiots as well, it suddenly occurs to me.

The coastline is closer and closer, Luffy’s hair flies in a gust of sea breeze. He puts a hand over his head as if to hold down something, but he is a little confused when he’s not touching the thing he’s supposed to touch.

“Luffy, are you feeling ill? You’ve sweat a lot.” Chopper says in concern, his little hoof feeling Luffy’s forehead.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Luffy shuns away, “just a little headache.”

“That’s not nothing though?”

“Are you sure you’re OK?”

“Chopper, should you give him a quick checkup?”

I clench my jaw. I’ve noticed that Luffy has obviously got a lot quieter. The more time he spends with his past crewmates, the stronger his will to remember the past. Maybe he hasn’t realized himself, but his body has already started reacting.

“Stop running away with him. Luffy, there is no Straw Hat…”

Chilling ice freezes my feet out of the blue, and I trip and fall. But this is no time to stop, I quickly leap out of the biscuit armor and raise my hands. Something bizarre happens right then: two additional hands shoots out from my arms, and they appear to be a woman’s hands upon closer inspection. They bind my fingers to stop me from clapping and making new biscuits, and that robot suddenly appears behind me, his hands clasped together and already smashing down towards me when Luffy calls out to me.

\-- A square hit.

I’m crushed into the earth by the enormous force, the ground caved in from the impact.

Although it’s not quite as strong as Luffy’s attacks back then, I still spit out some bloody foams in pain. Meanwhile, the robot leaps high in the air, no doubt to get ready for another fatal blow with its own weight in addition to gravity.

More woman’s hands grow out and hold down my hands from creating biscuits.

Dammit –

I open my eyes wide. I won’t look away from this! I can’t show weakness even if I’ll be hit.

But the anticipated attack didn’t happen. A heavy blow has knocked General Franky and Sniper King on top to the side, next, I hear straw sandals treading on grass.

“That’s enough, no way this is a fair fight.”

It’s Luffy’s furious voice.

I clamber up to see him shielding me behind his back, and the Straw Hat Pirates are standing across from us.

Rumbling of machinery booms next to my ears, and General Franky steps over our heads. He puts down the battered Franky and Sniper King, and they stand next to Brook, the guy with an afro who has turned back corporeal at some point, and another woman I saw on the wanted posters, Nico Robin.

“Luffy-san is quite intimidating as an enemy, yohohoho.” There is some cold air still lingering on Brook’s sword.

“We’ve known that all along, right, Nico Robin?” Franky readies his hand cannon.

“Yes, he’s always been in high spirits.” The black-haired woman smiles, but the look she casts on me is extremely icy.

“Luffy, here’s your reminder, you once bawled your eyes out after I beat you up!” Sniper King lifts his slingshot as his feet tremble.

“I’m not afraid even if I’m fighting Luffy.” This is Chopper, voice still wet but somehow has grown a pair of magnificent antlers.

“I’ve been so mad at you. How can you act like you really don’t remember anything? You dummy, you even said once…” With Nami’s summoning, the sky above us is again covered by dark clouds.

***

**“That you can’t live without us!”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Translator]  
> I'm sorry this chapter took me so long... Action scenes sure are hard!  
> Two more chapters to go (Ch. 14 is outtakes), and more actions await!


	12. Chapter 12

I really do not understand these people.

They come back to this nightmarish place to take back their captain, going as far as putting themselves in greater trouble in order to keep Mama at bay.

But when they face off Luffy who has lost his memories, they act like they can forget about him at any minute.

\-- It’s as if they’re fighting like they’d rather kill him than leaving him with us.

Luffy is strong, but he still struggles when dealing with crewmates who know him well and fight in close coordination. However, Luffy never cares whether his opponents fight dirty, so even when Sniper King blurs his vision with dust, or when Chopper’s antlers send him flying, or when Brook freezes and cuts him, he only concentrates more on the battle, and in the end, his crewmates are the ones receiving solid punches from him.

“Just admit your defeat if you can’t stand back up.” Luffy retracts his fists and huffs, looking content yet confused.

Right now, Sniper King is facing Luffy directly, and he is kneeling on the ground, hissing in pain while clutching his stomach that got hit. It’s time to finish him off, but Luffy stops when he sees the other coughing up some blood. The rest of them have all collapsed on the ground here and there, and I feel like an outsider when all I did was watching the entire time.

“Hey, Luffy, that’s enough…” I pat Luffy’s shoulder, but he remains there, standing stiffly with his back turned to me. He stares at the blood in Sniper King’s palm, the ridiculous mask is now broken, revealing the funny face of a long-nosed man.

“U-, U-…” Luffy frowns. This is not a hard fight for him, but his breaths are shallower, his lips turned abnormally red at some point, and his face pale despite all the sweat. I can feel him trembling under my palm.

“Luffy, do you remember now? It’s me…” Sniper King stands up shakily, using his slingshot as support. He approaches Luffy as he coughs and hacks, “my name, you can do it, Luffy, you can remember my name…”

I sigh imperceptibly, slap the struggling long-nose into the ground with a wave of my hand, and kick aside anyone trying to stop me with ease.

That’s right, just admit defeat if you’re not capable enough. Doesn’t it make everything easier by just lying on the floor?

You’ve already done your best, and that’s enough reason to persuade yourselves to give up.

“Luffy, does your head hurt a lot? Let’s…” I press Luffy’s shoulder, and he turns to look at me with a scowl.

“What are you doing? He’s my enemy.”

His stern expression makes the back of my head prickle, and my hand automatically drops as well.

Sniper King’s shaky hand is gripping tightly onto Luffy, with so much force that his whitened knuckles show even through the thick layer of blood. Luffy crouches down, and the other uses the opportunity to haul his whole body towards him. I want to bat away the blood-stained hand, but right at that split second, I notice some strange gleam on the fingertips of the hand that this crafty man clutches his stomach with.

“Watch out!”

***

“Ahhhhhh!!!!! You cheaters!!!!!!”

Although Luffy finally gets to ride on the robot as he wished, he’s now yelling furiously, startling a flock of birds in the woods.

“That’s what pirates are for ya, did you think we were playing?” Nami stands on Zeus and looks down on him cockily.

“Told you this Sniper King is awesome! Well, let me announce my great name to you now! I am no other than Usopp, the man that defeated you, muahahahahaha!”

Luffy throws him an angry glare, the long-nose shrinks back swiftly and huddles with the reindeer, both shivering uncontrollably.

“Luffy, don’t be mad. Look, if you press this place on the robot, a small cabinet pops out, and there’s snack inside!” Robin is sitting on the striding robot along with Luffy. She tucks her wind-blown hair behind her ear, her face delighted like she’s taking a stroll in the park, “come and try it out, this is specially made for you by our Mr. Cook before we set out.” She says as she picks up the plate and feeds Luffy some cake.

“Ohhh that is incredible! Mmm… Delicious!”

Even if they weren’t his past crewmates, I doubt he’d reject food from any random person, he’s too gullible…

I can’t help but wonder as I watch Luffy happily devour the food, Sea Prism Stone shackles on my wrists.

“If you asshole wasn’t with him, food would be sufficient indeed, and we didn’t have to sustain these unnecessary injuries.” I suspect that if it weren’t for the fear of Luffy finding out, this wicked Nami woman would have killed me already. For example, she steps on me every now and then when Luffy isn’t looking, “it’s all your fault that we have to waste our only pair of shackles on you.”

… You are quite an unscrupulous bunch.

“Don’t worry Cracker, when I defeat Straw Hat, they’ll have to let you go.” Luffy sends me a glance before back to being obsessed with whatever magical functions the robot has that Franky shows him.

“Now you can press my nose.”

“OK, I’m pressing it now.”

“Beep beep beep–" Franky imitates the sound of a robot, and his hair explodes into the shape of a turd as his nipples start flashing in colorful light.

“Hahahahahaha that’s so cool!”

“Yohohohoho, I want to go and play with Luffy-san too.”

“Me too!”

“And me too!”

“No more space here, shut up!”

It’s so humiliating that I fell for these people’s trap, dammit!

***

“Ah we’re almost there.”

Though we are not totally out of the forest yet, we can already hear the sound of waves clearly.

“You don’t have Mama’s Vivre Card anymore, so why can you still control the Homies?” I’m isolated on purpose and have to sit with Nami and a few others. Ever since we set foot in the Seducing Woods, I’ve been suspicious of why we can pass unimpeded. Since there’s nothing else to do, I may as well voice my question now.

Nami has no intention to answer me as she spares me a glare. Instead, Brook, who’s been running ahead, replies with his strange laugh: “This is the charm of music, because I’m the Soul King!”

“Shut it, don’t provide extra information to our enemy.” Nami chides and turns to look at me again. I stare back at her unyieldingly. As we stare at each other, the woman seems to recall something funny. Her eyes suddenly curve into an all the more terrifying smile: “Hey, have you ever seen a wild beast that is abandoned after finally finding a master?” I have no idea what she’s talking about, and she leans closer, her eyes squinting: “You’ll be fed to the beast in a short moment.”

Zeus glides down, and suddenly a stretch of glittering blue replaces the vast backdrop of green.

The sea is right in front.

“Then have you ever seen an outraged monster who has his treasure stolen?” I whisper back, the decorative mirror on my belt reflecting blinding light under the sun, “you’re about to.”

***

A tremendous pressure suddenly descends. When everyone realizes it, white mochi is surging towards them like waves. The Straws Hats are swept into the milky white tsunami, only Luffy and I remain standing, all safe and sound.

With Katakuri’s arrival, the Homies scramble to run away frantically, clearing from our view. Our back is against the boundless sea, and the Seducing Woods in front of us has retreated into the distance.

As if to set the last stage for us all.

“Yo, you’re here!” Luffy chuckles joyfully, waving his rubber arm.

Katakuri is wearing his fluffy scarf as usual, and his expression softens when he sees Luffy. He walks slowly but surely, his posture tall and straight, eyes looking forward, and the Straw Hats look like poor little insects in a glue trap at his feet.

When Katakuri is about to touch Luffy, three powerful air slashes fly towards him. The slashes are fast and quiet, they accurately bypass Luffy and shoot straight for Katakuri. If Katakuri didn’t foresee it, his arms would have been cut off and his body chopped into three pieces by now.

Luffy pulls me to his side with a scoop of his arm since I can’t use my ability at the moment.

A green-haired man saunters over from the coast, his hand casually placed on the hilts of the three swords hanging by his side, a ridiculous belly warmer on his waist.

“Yo, you’re too slow.” He says to Luffy nonchalantly.

“We have to spend this much effort because you habitually get lost!” Nami shouts indignantly as she struggles to breathe in the mochi trap.

“Who’d get lost if they can see their target!” He remains relaxed, yet his eye is bright and sharp. He walks towards us, but his eye is glued on Luffy, like a wolf measuring the shortest distance to his prey with every step he takes.

He’s beyond starving, so he’s taking his time instead, ready to spend every bit of strength where necessary.

The man’s pace is very slow, but eventually he reaches Luffy.

“Are you Straw Hat?”

“No way I am that dumbass.” He sneers, his upturned lips void of actual smile. He takes a few more steps until he completely invades Luffy’s personal space. They gaze into each other’s eyes, then the green-haired man suddenly draws his sword and swings it down, but the sharp blade carrying immense strength comes to a soft stop at Luffy’s nose tip, not touching even a strand of his hair.

Like placing a gentle kiss.

Luffy’s smile is reflected on the shining blade.

Behind him, the air slashes cut open Katakuri’s mochi trap, and the other Straw Hats finally manage to stand up.

“Are you taking me to him?”

“No, you’ll have to beat me first.”

Luffy giggles, and the man sheathes his sword. He only has one good eye, so he looks at Luffy with extra devotion to compensate for that, the expression bordering on possessiveness, which makes me a little uneasy.

However, Luffy seems oblivious to all of that. He clenches his fists in excitement, ready to jump into action.

“You’re strong, I like it.”

**“That’s only natural, or I’m no good for the Pirate King!”**

The conversation brings a bit of warmth in the green-haired man’s eye. His answer sounds so casual like he’s just talking about weather.

“Um, but I’m the one that will become Pirate King!”

“You won’t know it until we fight.”

“You’re right!”

They start laughing at the same time, like two old friends comfortable with each other’s presence.

“What’s your name?”

The green-haired swordsman falls silent for a while. Not just me, I can feel the rest of the Straw Hats tense up around me. It’s relieving when he finally sighs and answers him.

“Roronoa Zoro.”

“… Rono, Rono… Your name is too hard to pronounce, I’ll just call you green head.”

I can hear Sniper King next to me let out a terrified and strangled hiss.

“You’re so cruel.” The man gives Luffy a toothy grimace, “Zoro should be simple enough for you.”

“Zo… ro… yeah right… Zoro, Zoro!” Luffy chews the syllables between his lips, then he turns to Katakuri and announces cheerfully, “this fight is between me and Zoro, don’t interfere!”

I sneak a peek at Katakuri. He remains quiet, then actually complies and sits down on the ground after a moment. The rest of the Straw Hats also gather around and boldly sit next to us. I brandish the shackles on my wrists, and Nami pretends not to see them. I grind my teeth and sit down in defiance.

“Zoro, here I come.” Luffy closes his fists tightly and gets into fighting stance.

“’Kay.” Zoro replies, and his eye lingers on Luffy’s scraped fists before darting towards me and Katakuri.

**“I’ll cut you after I cut him.”** These are the first words from Zoro to Katakuri.

Then they dive into battle without wasting another second.

***

“There is certainly no reservation.”

I mutter as I watch the battle in front of me.

As time passes, they leave traces of battle all around them: the crisscrossing sword cuts in the ground, the trees that are snapped and knocked aside, and the cuts and bruises they leave on each other’s body. Katakuri has built a low rampart with mochi in front of us to block the impact from the two’s fight. He’s even built one for the Straw Hats too, maybe out of the consideration that it will allow Luffy to focus on the battle. But the other side doesn’t seem very grateful of the gesture, they still have that murderous intent in their eyes when looking at us.

Same here though, I hope they would drop dead too.

Katakuri on the other hand, has somehow become the peacekeeper among us, being at ease with the situation and watching the fight intently.

“Will Luffy win?” The complete silence is unbearable, and I just have to ask Katakuri. He glances at me before slowly turning his eyes back on Luffy.

“I don’t know.”

He glimpses to the side and finds the Straw Hats peeking at us too.

“I haven’t seen the final outcome.”

Both the Straw Hats and I sigh in relief.

***

Luffy’s punch deflects a slash from Zoro, but Zoro also leaves a new cut on his calf.

“Almost.” The green-haired man says, words somewhat jumbled due to the sword in his mouth.

“That’s my line!” Luffy bares his teeth, starting a new wave of attacks from mid-air.

Punches and slashes intertwine, forming a peculiar melody as they clash and contest. The two fighters involved both look intoxicated as they perform the duet.

“What good does it do? This is a lose-lose situation.” I deliberately raise my voice.

“You’re right.” Katakuri answers me, although dismissively, “but don’t think about that for now.”

I’m unhappy with Katakuri’s composure which borders on being cold, he should make a decision and take care of the enemies at this moment, not sitting here with me like one of his mochi statues.

“Don’t you think it’s beautiful? ...” He speaks again slowly in an attempt to calm me. I want to refute but end up pressing my hands on my knees and forcing myself to keep watching. I don’t know if Katakuri has noticed it or not, but Luffy has been dealing with another kind of “pain” besides the fight. He’s spontaneously slowing down, and he’s sweating profusely. No, I think everyone can see that, because the green-haired man obviously isn’t going all out either.

“Will you still take back Luffy if he can’t remember anything?”

Katakuri’s words abruptly drop on the silent beach.

Every one of the Straw Hats looks hurt, the little pet is again about to cry. The rejection of such prospect from the bottom of their hearts displaces their anger.

“Memories are mutual.” The archaeologist intones, “as long as one side retains the memory, then its existence can be proven. Anything beyond that is not of your concern.”

I can’t see Katakuri’s face, but I know he is smiling behind his scarf: “You are right. **As long as someone remembers.”**

***

Not too far away, the two’s battle has entered the climax. Luffy’s fists push against Zoro’s swords, they both clench their jaws and engage in a fierce contest, the will to win burning in their eyes.

Katakuri slightly widens his eyes.

“Luffy.” His voice is hushed. I don’t know what he foresees, but he clearly sounds worried. I can’t help but stand up.

“It’s futile.” Sniper King, who tries to stay as far away from us as possible, waves a strange shell in his hand, “any sound here is absorbed by the tone dial, Luffy can’t hear you no matter how loud you shout.”

Katakuri only huffs and no longer looks worried. He inconspicuously holds me down as well.

***

Luffy, who’s in total concentration, suddenly tilts to the side. And because of this motion, I finally notice something invisible. It briskly cuts through the air a few seconds later and crash-lands at where Luffy was standing. Although he has avoided a direct hit, the shockwave still sends Luffy flying and diving headfirst into the sand.

“Mmmmph!” He tries to pluck his head out but unsuccessful. The invisible thing circles back to him, and surprisingly doesn’t attack him but drags him out.

“You cheat!” Luffy is furious, “how can you do it again?!” He glares at Zoro, who averts his eye out of obvious guilt, and yells at the Straw Hats watching by the side, “what is this thing?!”

“Tsk. When did you get such a troublesome ability?” A new voice comes out of nowhere, and Luffy suddenly covers his forehead with a hand and backs a few steps like he’s been flicked.

“Who is it?” He searches around.

“Hm? Why can’t he do it again? So, was it just the idiot being oversensitive?”

With these words, the outline of a man slowly emerges in front of Luffy.

Black cape, red neckerchief, a large number “3”, and familiar shades.

“You’re Yonji!” Luffy slams a fist into his palm.

“Why do you remember that name?!” The invisible man turns from laid-back to infuriated in an instant. He pulls off the mask, revealing a similar whirly brow, but with a goatee and blonde hair – it’s that “Sanji” boy of the Vinsmokes indeed.

“Eh, you’re not? You have the same whirly brow.”

“It’s totally different! Are you asshole playing dumb?!” Sanji grabs Luffy by his collar, but almost gets his hand slashed by Zoro.

“Whatcha doing moss-head?”

“You ero-kappa can’t even manage a simple sneak attack, there were so many chances…”

“You’ve been fighting in close quarter with Luffy and coming between Luffy and I every single time. I don’t think you muscle head paid any attention when we were discussing our plan!”

“Huh? It’s clearly because your breaths were too heavy and Luffy heard you…”

“Bullshit, you didn’t even notice. I should have kicked your green head first then take care of Luffy by myself.”

“Huh? I knew where you were from the start, and I had to change the direction of my attacks several times to accommodate you. I should have slashed you first if only I had known, I’d have got it done already if I handled it alone.”

“Ah? What are you bullshitting about? Your direct slashes are like tickles to me, got it, ‘green head?’”

“Ah? If Luffy had listened to me in the beginning, none of these would have happened! I’ve had enough of you, ‘Yonji!’”

“You wanna fight again?”

“Yup, I wasn’t satisfied, and now is as good a time as ever…”

““How about I cut/kick you now since he doesn’t remember!””

“…”

“…”

***

“Urgh… Not again…” Nami facepalms in defeat.

“Zoro… Sanji… Stop fighting! Luffy is still…”

“Chopper, stop shouting, our voices are all absorbed too.”

“Um, then what do we do?”

“Yohohoho it seems the plan has totally fallen apart!”

“Looks that way, so neither of them was listening when we discussed the plan.”

“You can’t rely on them. I, Franky, will save the day, yow—”

***

I’m entirely baffled.

Katakuri also frowns slightly and mutters: “A load of nonsense.”

***

“Hey, do you want to fight or no?” Luffy tries to squeeze in between Zoro and Sanji, but the two seems to have forgotten about him, fighting each other in slashes and kicks.

“Did you become invisible with your raid suit?”

“Didn’t you say you’re going to beat me?”

“Can I touch your raid suit?”

“Don’t block it for me, I can fight back myself.”

“Hey, you two stop fighting, fight me instead!”

“Ahhhhhhh – I am really mad now!”

***

Katakuri finally stands up.

“What – what are you trying to do? Luffy told you not to interfere with his fight!” Sniper King immediately shouts.

“Yeah that’s right.” The little reindeer echoes by the side.

Katakuri throws them a cold look, and the two instantly hide behind the archaeologist and the pervert robot, huddled together and trembling.

“Didn’t you cheat first?”

With Katakuri’s words, the two ramparts simultaneously collapse into a pool of mochi, then quickly gathers again and sweeps towards the rest of the Straw Hats.

At the same time, I hear Luffy’s crispy voice: “Gear 4 – Bound Man.”

***

“Hm, this is…” Zoro and Sanji finally stop fighting to look at Luffy, who bounces lightly on his feet, body coated with red and obsidian Haki.

“What’s this new form? It’s soooo weird.” Sanji tuts, but eyes Luffy in all seriousness.

“Only he can come up with strange techniques like this.” Zoro taps his shoulder with the back of his sword, yet he looks very proud.

“Taking off shoes before fighting, does he think someone will pick them up after him every single time?” Sanji mocks, he’s already taken off the raid suit. A flicker of the lighter illuminates his face, and a strand of smoke rises from his cigarette soon after, “but he should throw away the trashy shoes from this trashy place anyway.”

“If I beat you!” Luffy bounces a couple of times, his eyes shine brighter with the magnificent paint-like black color around, “you’ll have to give me your raid suit, and you your best sword.”

“Heh – That’s quite daring.” Zoro fastens his headscarf, flashing a smug smile beneath the shadow, “don’t call me ‘you’, haven’t I already told you my name?”

“Ah, it’s Zoro.”

“What about me?”

“… Whirly brow?”

“It’s Sanji! San—ji—, pretty easy to remember right? Much easier to remember than this dumb swordsman with no sense of direction!”

“Ah, it’s OK if you don’t remember this nosebleed guy…”

“You wanna fight again?!”

A heavy punch interrupts their squabble, leaving a terrifying deep dent on the ground, although both dodged in time.

“I’m very strong in this state.” Foggy Haki envelops Luffy. He exhales, “don’t underestimate me!”

A drop of sweat slides down his forehead, passes the arch of his eyebrow, and seeps into the sand under his feet, leaving a dark spot.

“Why would we underestimate you…” Sanji taps the tip of his black dress shoe, and crimson flames flare up, “hey, cactus, don’t die, or I’ll have to tell him you got lost when we console him later.”

“Well, if you die, I’ll tell him this – you got off the ship yourself because you are too weak.”

Punches, kicks, and slashes, the three clashing Haki form a sizable storm that gradually fills the area.

***

**“So what if you can foresee? You don’t decide our future.”**

Katakuri’s mochi is blocked by a joint net of branches and arms, General Franky ends its idling and stands back up, coming in between Katakuri and Luffy. The rest of the Straw Hats form a line of defense in front of us; even the timid Sniper King and little reindeer are in fighting stance, facing Katakuri without a shred of fear, as if they were only pretending to be scared before.

“Did you intentionally bait him into using Gear Four? Maybe his weakened state afterwards is what you aimed for, but can they really defeat him with just the two of them? He is very different from before.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Of course people are different from moment to moment.” Usopp puts on his goggles and draws back the slingshot in full.

“It’s not like we can sail the sea only because of Luffy’s constant protection.” Chopper has eaten something that turns him more gigantic than Katakuri.

“It’s because Luffy deeply trusts us and relies on us that he can move forward valiantly!” New storm clouds form over our heads, and Zeus flies out of Nami’s Clima Takt, fierce and violent.

“Are you challenging me?” Katakuri stands in front of me, but his voice is void of anger, and there is even a bit of relief in it.

“ **We are the Pirate King’s crew,** we are more than capable to fight you!”

They stand firmly against giant waves of mochi, their answer to us loud and fearless.

***

The battle between Mama and Kaido, the battle between the Beast Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates, the battle between Luffy and his crew, and the battle between the Straw Hats and Katakuri, all happen at the same time on Whole Cake Island.

I sit on the floor, Sea Prism shackles heavy on my wrists. It must be because of these shackles that I feel like being suffocated by the ocean.

The determination and coordination of the Straw Hats force Katakuri to divert his attention from Luffy, and I feel he’s also holding back intentionally. I don’t know how I would handle the situation today if I were in Katakuri’s shoes. Would I be able to face Luffy’s smile again without feeling guilty if I killed his real crewmates?

My eyes are drawn back to Luffy again who’s engrossed in fight by the coast. Blood drips into the sand and darkens the dirt, the three men fighting in full strength are painting a totem there that only belongs to them. I used to fight like that with Luffy too. Fervent bloodthirst flickers on Zoro’s and Sanji’s faces, and they look content whether they hit Luffy or being hit by Luffy, because Luffy is entirely focusing on them at this moment, he’s only looking at them, and his head is filled with just them.

**This is a different kind of possession.**

I was so stupid back then. My competitiveness and arrogance not only led to my defeat by Luffy, but also made me miss something more precious.

And I now fully understand why Katakuri made that astonishing decision after his fight with Luffy.

Katakuri, who is famous for his foresight, was completely blinded at that moment, and decided to trade a fake “someone else’s belonging” with his own unique “expectation.”

\-- This Luffy kid is really formidable.

Besides his extraordinary talent in battle prowess, he apparently also has incredible influence over interpersonal bonds.

Maybe Katakuri thought he was the one that imprisoned Luffy back then, but Luffy is like a small and frail spider in the tree, swaying his scrawny limbs to weave a web that traps everyone with its thin and unperceivable threads. And it’s too late when you realize it.

Whether it’s me.

Or Katakuri.

Or his crewmates.

We are all ensnared by him.

Even if we manage to escape, we’ll forever remember the feel of cobweb on our skin.

After all, that is the most delicate and gentle prison.

***

**Let’s say goodbye to Luffy.**

***

The chance to escape is one and only.


End file.
